The Forgotten
by Caer
Summary: 2x4 eventually and other pairings later. AU Quatre finds himself abandoned on L2, and abandoned prison colony where he finds friends who fight for their very survival every day.
1. Default Chapter

Forgttn

New AU 2x4 

Warnings:Angst, eventual lemon, some death, violence and various other adult themes.

Disclaimer:Pretend there is a disclaimer here.Imagine what it would say.That about covers it.

"The Forgotten"

Part 1

By Caer

The old semi sat, idling noisily in one of the guarded commodity stations of L2 while cargo droids carried large crates of food into one of the only relatively stable looking buildings in the wrecked city.The droids were designed very similar to "mini-mobiles"; car sized unmanned mobile suits that were used instead of human labor in order to avoid bloodshed on the colony's crime-ridden streets.Not a human was in sightsave for the grubby driver of the truck who was currently relieving himself against the building of an old theatre.He didn't see as three of the large droids walked steadily away from the truck.The sound of the engine drowned out any auditory sign that the droids were leaving and the man wouldn't have been interested as he had decided to 'relieve himself' in other ways while looking at a rather racy poster of a long forgotten, but well endowed actress on the theatre wall.

The droids marched steadily down the street with their huge food crates held securely.Few saw them, since not many dared to wander the daytime streets in L2... especially in this part of town.The droids were seen only by a few cur dogs and some of the older lost souls who sat in the alleyways.Most everyone else was either holed up in the run down buildings, or underground. The only real work available on L2 was in the mineral processing plants owned by the Winner Corporation.

  
Eventually, the droids came to an old subway station.They stopped and lined up at one of the large automatic doors where they stopped, waiting.A creak rang through the empty alleyway as one of the doors slid open a bit.Four hands appeared underneath and pushed up to reveal their owners.Two boys, almost men, stood at the entryway, eying their treasures.Neither was very tall, their growth, sadly held back due to the low nutrition standards on the colony. 

One boy was Chinese, with caramel skin and well-defined muscles on his thin frame, and he had a regal look to him that shone through his faded white garb.Though his attention was on the droids at the moment, he was focused on nothing, his eyes open to his surroundings.He used his peripheral vision to watch for intruders or any curious eyes that didn't belong.The alley was empty for now. 

The other boy was American.He also wore all black, though his attire was decorated with a priest's collar and worn gold embroidery on each lapel.While the other boy wore light black shoes, he wore heavy combat boots that hugged his calves.He had an almost evil looking grin and though he made little movement, his very aura seemed to move around him, giving him the appearance of being in constant motion.

Both had long hair, a symbol of strength and unparalleled fighting skill, since long hair, or hair at all was a risky liability in a fight.To survive the streets of L2 with such a disadvantage was a deterrent in itself, as most men would not approach either of these boys unless they wanted to end up dead.The Chinese boy had his long shining jet-black hair secured in a tight ponytail and bound down its length to keep it together.The American had chocolate hair that was braided and hung just past the tops of his legs.

"Wufei?"

"It's clear."The Chinese boy said."Let's move them in."

The braided one, Duo, laughed and turned to throw up the sliding door to the small warehouse.Wufei kept watch.

"Bring the crates in here."Duo commanded and the droids lurched to life, turning and marching, single file, into the room.

"Let's go Wufei."Duo shouted.Wufei took one more searching look around before sliding deftly under the closing door.

***

"Your generosity is appreciated Mr. Winner.We were getting desperate up here."

"It's the least I can do.I only wish I could bring you more."The austere man stood on the loading door of the giant cargo ship on L2's shabby loading bay with L2's chief social service representative.L2 had started as a prison colony, ages ago.A place to send all the lowlifes, where they couldn't escape.Once a notorious and well kept prison, with the changing times, the colony had been ignored and neglected.Now, generations after, with the original criminal population long dead, L2 was nothing but a cesspool of abandoned people trying to survive as best they could.The crime was indescribable.Gangs ran the entire city.Very few areas were even close to being real neighborhoods.The death rate within the colony was beyond compare.There were no doctors to speak of and no immunizations to keep the disease, which was abundant, away.Up until recently, the colony had been completely ignored by the rest of the world.Now,SSIP, the Social Services Integration Project had been put into place to turn the ruined colony around and get them back on their feet.SSIP was run by the Winner Corporation and had become their biggest charity project to date.

"Your son has been a big help.It's good to see him taking an interest in the L2 project."

The warehouse foreman stood on the platform with Mr. Winner.

"He's a considerate boy."The man threw out."I'm sure this trip will be good for him."

They looked down at the blond boy below, watching him help the other workers as they loaded crates full of processed ore back onto the ship, laughing as he talked with the other men.His muscles strained under pale skin, shining with sweat as he helped to roll the giant crates into the cargo deck.Though he was petit, Quatre Raberba Winner, the 17 year old son of Randolph Winner, one of the five richest men in the world, was well muscled after years of martial arts training and fencing.He did not take well to the rich life and preferred to be out working with the hired help, rather than sitting inside with the politicians and various rich friends…an annoying habit.Most people didn't even know that Winner had a son, since he ran around with the staff most of the time.That and the fact that he grew up with one of 39 sisters, most of which were ignored by the spotlight unless something big happened.Quatre had only just come to meet his father.Guests usually considered him another member of the 'hired help,' which seemed to suit the little brat just fine.The only reason he had taken the boy to show him the workings of the business, was because he figured the boy didn't have enough backbone to run the company himself and would therefore make a suitable puppet for his current assistants if anything ever happened to him.This wasn't the main reason.Mr. Winner had heard that his son looked very much like his mother.He had tried to ignore the fact, but it burned at him.He finally invited the boy at his daughter's request.He had been sulking since Iria's death and needed to get out she had said.In the end, he couldn't say no.

"He's the kindest boy I've ever met."The man said, chuckling."Any girl who snags him will be lucky."

"Yes, well…" Mr. Winner frowned coldly."My son isn't interested in girls I'm afraid."Another from a long list of things Randolph Winner didn't like about his son.

***

"Un-fucking-believable!"Duo grinned like a kid in a candy shop as he opened the first of the 3 crates."Remind me to tell Heero he's a god damned genius!"He laughed, pulling a box of sweet cereal out."The kids are gonna love this."

"Duo, we have to get this done now, before someone comes looking."

"Right."Duo replied seriously, and jumped nimbly off the crate, running to a grate in the cement of the warehouse and opening it up.A younger boy, standing below, looked up at him

"It's time Daniel."Duo said."Bring the kids up."

The boy nodded and disappeared for a moment.Minutes later, a line of children anywhere between 4 and 16 years old filed out of the grate.There were about 20 of them.

"Okay!Take as much as you can carry and run back for the rest.We have to get these puppies unloaded in record time before someone sees us.Let's move!"

The kids lurched into action, with a mixture of joy and relief.Things had been getting pretty scary in the way of food and clothing.

"I'll keep watch."Wufei said, exiting the smaller warehouse door.

"Sure.Anything to keep from having to do manual labor."

"Funny Maxwell."

"You know I love ya Wufei."

"Hmph." He said and shut the door.Duo turned to see one of the smaller boys struggling with his load.The braided boy frowned.Peter was the youngest.They had nearly lost him to the cold the last time the environmental system shut down.

"Petes!Why don't you take a smaller load kiddo?"

The little black haired boy turned, clutching the food to his chest.

"I'm strong enough.I can carry it."

Duo smiled gently."Maybe, but how are you going to climb down without a free arm?"

The boy thought a minute.He looked up with a serious look on his face."Oh yeah!"He put down half the stack and ran off.Thanks Duo!"

"Hey!Slow down."The boy looked back and only barely missed running into one of the older children.

"KAY!"

Duo snickered."Reminds me of me."

***

"Father?"Quatre knocked on the open door.There was no answer, so he went in, hoping to find a clue as to where the man might be.Wherever he was, it was probably on his desk calendar.He walked quietly over the plush carpet to the meticulously kept cherry wood desk, to scan the built in screen under the desk glass.He pushed some scattered papers to the side to uncover the whole schedule.

"2:00."Quatre murmured his eyes darting to the clock."He must be meeting with SSIP"

He turned to go, when he saw his father's palmtop on the corner of the desk.Perhaps he was still here after all.He walked over to check if a schedule had been changed.There was a piece of email up on the small device.

Tsuberov,L2 project is going well.Production up 30% with minimal investment.SSIP manager is onboard.Move to postpone wage increase should stand with additional support.

More later.

W

Quatre frowned at the message.Maybe he just didn't understand everything… but something seemed wrong with this.Weren't they trying to move L2 to a higher wage bracket to integrate them back into the economy?Why would they put it off?

He chewed on his lip as he left the office.Curiosity was eating away at him, but it was really none of his business.Still… there were a lot of things Quatre disliked about his father since meeting him.For one thing, the man never smiled.The only time would be if he were at a photo shoot.Looking at the media pictures, you would think the man was high on life, but he was so very cold in reality.The pictures and stories that Quatre had grown up with and the man he had only just met were two completely different people.

Quatre had tried to draw him into extra curricular activities on several occasions… his way of trying to get some sort of father/son bonding out of the man and get to know him, but he was rejected every time.The man was colder than Kane and just as controlling.

Quatre had prided himself on being able to see the good in people, but there was nothing he liked about his father.Even the charities he indulged in seemed to be only for the prestige and good press.

He had come into space to see the man, hoping that he could learn more about his father, and maybe get to know him.At first, he had been hesitant, but his older sister, whom he stayed with, had convinced him to get out of the house and do a bit of travelling.Not that she had been trying to get rid of him, but ever since his older sister Iria had died, he had been in a bit of a rut.It had left him pretty heart sore and listless.He agreed that a change might help.

But ever since he had come out to the colonies, he had felt the pain even more because Iria couldn't be there with him.She had had a pretty good relationship with his father he had heard.Maybe she could have helped him to understand the insensate Mr. Winner.

Quatre set the organizer down and set off to find his father.Maybe it was time that they talked.

***

"Thank you for your endorsement."Mr. Winner said as he spotted his son."I assure you, times are a bit rough right now, but I will continue to push this project.I want to se 02-L2 get the assistance it needs to rejoin the rest of the colonies in the common market as soon as possible.I hope our agreement is satisfactory.

The man smirked."Very satisfactory Mr. Winner, sir."Then the man spotted the blond. "I fully understand.Your help is appreciated none the less."

Quatre stopped as he listened to his father.Times weren't that hard.Why was he lying?Was his father really using L2 for cheap labor?He couldn't be.Quatre had to be mistaken.

The boy had to admit though, that he did not know this man.Quatre and Iria had grown up in the house of his older sister Johara.He had not actually met his father until recently when the man had decided he wanted to get Quatre better acquainted with the business.Since Iria had died a few years before and he didn't really have any reason to stay, Quatre had seen it as an opportunity to get to know his elusive father better, so he said yes.Since then, he had become very interested by the social work Winner enterprises was involved in, especially the environmental programs on earth.However he had no luck getting any closer to his father.

"Quatre?"The imposing man walked to join his more slightly built son.

Quatre blinked, collecting his wandering thoughts.He decided it might not be a good idea to talk just yet.He wasn't sure if he really wanted to know what was going on here.He walked to join the man.

"Um… all the cargo is loaded.We're just waiting for the cargo droids to come back from the outlet stations."He replied quietly, looking down.

"Ah, excellent.The man nodded frostily."Once we finish the paperwork, we can leave before long and be back to earth before evening."

He headed for the ship.

"Quatre?Are you coming?"

The blond turned and sported an uncomfortable smile.

"Yeah.I just want to say goodbye to the crew I was working with."

Mr. Winner looked at his son, a stern brow raising.

"Are you all right son?"

Quatre nodded."Yeah.Just thinking too much I guess."

"Very well then.You have some time while I get some work done.Just see that you're not late for take-off."

"Yes father!"Quatre watched his father and the foreman walk by on the platform.There was something about the foreman that Quatre didn't like.

***

Mr. Winner entered his office, rubbing his head, trying to soothe the raging headache he had developed.He hated being on this colony.The people were filthy with questionable intelligence.Even the bleeding heart social workers were getting on his nerves.The noise was atrocious and the added burden of that annoying child of his was enough to drive him up a wall.The only benefit was that the boy seemed to have a knack for the mechanical.He had been able to get two of the run down cargo droids up and running again with less time than his qualified workers.Of course, it didn't help his headache that three more of the 50 droids they used to take the supplies out to each checkpoint had malfunctioned as well.Still… not having to buy two new machines saved him enough money that he didn't really regret bringing the brat.

He would definitely be going back to his sister's house on earth after this trip.The boy was an eyesore with his almost white hair and his deep sea green eyes that were almost blue on occasion.He looked just like his mother, Winner's favorite wife.The woman had been stupid and decided on natural childbirth.She had been so small and delicate; she had died on the table, leaving a screaming baby behind.He had sent him immediately to live with his 12th oldest daughter.She had a kid or two of her own and had the space.He didn't pay much attention to the results of his indulgence in women.He had an obsession with acquiring beauties from all over the world.He collected them.If he saw one he liked, he had to have her and he would stop at almost nothing to add her to his collection.

Quaterine had been his prize though.He kept her with him all the time, even as rebellious as she was.Her father had sold her to Winner for a handsome price.He had been willing to pay.He had won his other women by playing his media worthy charm, drawing them in with promise of money and estate, promises of love and the like.However, the thought of owning this stunning creature excited him.It was a fetish he had had for quite a while, but had never indulged in though he was rich enough.When he saw her, he decided he wanted this fantasy.She was perfect.

She was a little firecracker as well as the most exquisite woman he had ever had, and her anger at her situation made her even more intoxicating.She had run away more than once and had to be brought back by his service men and punished… but oh the excitement he had at punishing her.

It was nothing brutal.Winner was not the type.Rape was far too barbaric and not his style.Psychological manipulation however, he quite enjoyed.He would instead, kill her with kindness and tender gestures while making it entirely clear that she was his property.It enraged her no end, making her even more desirable… staring at her with those fiery eyes.It drove him mad with lust and he would often take a week away from work to sate his hunger.

He had been with another woman at the time of her death.She had become lifeless, which he had found intriguing because he knew she was doing it on purpose.She had figured out his game and was playing along.She no longer fought, but wondered around in a daze, seeming resigned to her fate.Even in bed, she would simply lay there like she was dead instead of spitting curses and insults at him while looking at him with those spirited blue eyes.The thought that she was trying to outsmart him drove him mad with elation.The excitement of the game made him desire her even more and he began trying to drive her to anger.She was good though and eluded his advances with total listlessness.He did not give up though.Eventually he knew he would break through her walls.She never let anyone know that she was with child.

Finally, he had to leave for Earth for a long business trip.He had left Quaterine at his mansion on Colony 04-B4, knowing he would not have time to play this game while he was attending to business.Instead, he had decided to indulge in an affair with his young secretary.It hadn't been hard.She had been easy enough to attain with the right encouragement.A few gifts and a new position had been adequate.Not worth making part of his collection, but her youth and energy were exciting enough to interest him for a while.

Quaterine never told anyone of her pregnancy, and with her reclusive nature as well as her tiny figure, she somehow managed to hide it from everyone long enough.One month before he was supposed to return home, he was informed that she was in labor and dying.They had rushed her to the best hospital money could find, but it was too late.By the time he arrived back, she had passed away.He never even saw the child.He simply told his staff to get rid of it somehow.He didn't care whom they sent it to.

He supposed that Iria had named the boy after that.She had liked Quaterine and Quaterine had returned the fondness, so he had allowed the child to visit every so often.He found out year later that she had named him after his mother.He cared little.He was so very angry at her… angry that he had lost their game.He was angry that he had lost his prize possession.

No woman was ever the same after that.He took no more wives.From that point on, he paid for his pleasure.

Now he sat at his desk, reminiscing about the woman.He had found himself doing that more since his son had come back.Yes, he thought about her a lot now that he had to look at those same spirited blue eyes… that same ethereal white-blond hair.It brought anger back that he had thought long buried.The boy would have to go back.It was too much.He had a business to run, damn it!

He slammed his fist down on the desk and went to his bar.Pouring himself a glass of Jack Daniels and ice, he took two painkillers, downing it with the burning liquid and replenishing his glass before sitting back down to get started on his paperwork.

He noticed then that he had left some very sensitive paperwork on his desk.There were schematics of the colony as well as some rather incriminating documents from Tsuberov, documents that could end up exposing the whole operation.

Winner cursed and locked the papers in his bottom drawer.He would have to cut down on his drinking.Not that it mattered here.He had very few people here who were allowed into the living quarters on the ship.His guards made sure of that.

As he set his drink down though, something floated across the dark cherry surface of his desk.He watched it with curiosity, as it made it's way halfway across the desk before coming to rest two inches away from his hand.

A white hair.

He picked it up in interest and held it to the light. It was longer than his own hair and as he took a closer look under the light, he could see that it was clearly tinged with the slightest yellow.It was not the white hair of an old man.

There was no mistaking who the hair belonged to.

The man stared at the hair, mesmerized.At least 20 minutes passed as he stared at that tiny piece of dead cell substance that could mean his downfall.Surely the boy would not be quiet.He was as bad as those emergency aid saps in the barracks below.He had already made it quite clear that money didn't interest him, so he couldn't really be bought.

Winner downed the remainder of his drink and opened the com-link on his desk.

"Yes sir?"The voice had a tinny quality as it came through the speakers on the high back of his chair.

"Get me Rashid.I have a job for him."

"Yes sir."

Winner chuckled and got up to get himself another drink.He sat down and looked at the hair he still held between his finger and thumb.As he opened, the hair stuck to his thumb.

Perhaps Quaterine had not won this game after all.

He blew the hair off his thumb and it vanished from sight.

***

Quatre sat quietly with one of his father's bodyguards as they traveled to one of the checkpoints to check out three droids that seemed to be malfunctioning.They had wondered off and when they were found two streets down, walking into the wall repeatedly, the crates they had carried had been ransacked.Quatre's father had suggested to Quatre that he might be able to fix them.Quatre had agreed.The more he thought about it, the more he didn't want to talk to the man about what he had seen.What business was it of his anyway?It wasn't as though he had the power to do anything about it, even if it was true.He just wanted to get this trip over with and go home.He wanted nothing to do with his father anymore.

He looked over at the giant bodyguard curiously.Though Rashid was very gruff, he had turned out to be a good friend to Quatre.He had taken the edge off of his loneliness and had helped him with issues he still carried about his sister.He seemed an excellent judge of character.Quatre found himself wondering why he would work for such a cold man.Could his father be that bad if Rashid stayed in his employment?

"Rashid?"His gentle voice barely cut over the noise of the car.Rashid looked down, slightly to meet the young man's sea green eyes.They were clouded with confusion.

"What is your opinion of my father?"

"He's a very busy man."

Rashid winced at how calm his tone was in spite of how wretched he felt.Had he become so callous over the years, that he didn't even feel guilt over all the atrocities his employer had forced him into during that time?Never this terrible though.Never.But what could he do?Now his family was in danger.The bastard had threatened his very family.What could he do?From L2, he couldn't even reach them to warn them.

"Well…"The blond brought him back from his own brooding."You know him.You know him better than I do, since he never sees me.I just want to know what you think of him as a person, that's all."

He had moved to staring down as he said it, but now turned questioning eyes toward the gruff man.Searching for an answer.Wanting Rashid to assure him that his father was a good man… that he was just overreacting.Rashid swallowed.

"Your father has a lot on his mind with the economy the way it is.Quatre."He said levelly, lying through his teeth.Winner enterprises was far from hurting, even though the economy was at a record low.

"Hmmm…"The blond replied, disappointed.Rashid didn't seem too keen on being honest with him either.Something was definitely wrong… with everything.His father was sending strange messages to politicians, Rashid had stopped talking to him and now three of their droids had been hijacked electronically.Or, he was jumping to conclusions in an unfamiliar situation.He reached into the car refrigerator to pull out a cold tea.

Rashid flinched as he watched, the cap being popped off.It went unnoticed by the Winner boy.He took a long drink.Rashid watched the pale throat as it worked the cool liquid down.When he had had nearly half of the thing, Quatre caught his breath.

"It's so hot in here."He said."You would think with all the technology my father has at his disposal, that we could fashion a car with an air conditioner that works."He said sarcastically.He sat back, wiping the sweat from his brow.

Rashid watched him with a morbid fascination he could not pull himself from.It took a few minutes.Quatre's eyelids began to droop heavily and, leaning forward, he put a hand on the door to steady himself.He shook his head sluggishly.

"I.. I feel strange."He mumbled, his words slurring.

Rashid steeled himself and took the tea out of the boy's hands setting it in the cup holder, then, leaning over the boy, he unbuckled the seatbelt.

"I don't feel well Rashid."

The blond watched the big man's actions through clouded vision; his mind beginning visibly to register that there was more to this than just feeling sick.Why was the big man acting so calm?Why was he doing what he was doing?

"Rashiddd…?"Quatre slurred, fear settling in his belly so strongly, he felt sick.What was happening to him?Rashid wouldn't reply.He simply pulled a blanket out of the overhead compartment.He wouldn't even look at Quatre.

He had been drugged.Why had he been drugged?Why would Rashid drug him?The man worked for his father, unless… It began to occur to him with horrifying clarity, even in his drugged state, that he was going to die.His father had found out that he was suspicious and now they were going to kill him.He struggled weakly, but Rashid simply held his arms, keeping him immobile.He shook his head sluggishly and raised heavy pleading eyes to the man he had thought of as a friend.

"Please… Rashid.Please don't."His words sounded sad, and airy as if he didn't have enough energy to make them clear.

"I'm sorry master Quatre."

"No!"He cried, weakly, tears forming at the corners of his eyes.Rashid was his friend.How could he do this?

The older man caved and held the blond body tightly to his chest as it trembled weakly.He could feel tears on his neck where Quatre's eyes rested as he sobbed out another weak, frightened "Please."

"Abdul, stop the car."He told the driver via speaker.The window that separated the cabin from the front was tinted, so the man was unaware of what was happening in the back.The black car lurched to a halt.

Climbing over the body and out of the car, Rashid pulled the dull gray blanket over Quatre's form and now, over his barely open eyes and lifted the limp figure, gracelessly into his arms.He carried the bundle over and set it gently by the dumpster in the alley, making sure that the blanket completely concealed the body.

His hands were shaking as he closed the back door of the car and got in the front.He could feel the younger Arab driver's eyes on him, but he looked numbly ahead.

"It's done."He grated the words out hoarsely through the lump in his throat."Let's go."He turned the air conditioning back on full force as the black car pulled away from the empty alley.

Quatre felt cold, even with L2's unbearable heat beating down on him through the blanket.Everything inside of him felt heavy and slow, though there was no pain.

'Poison.' He thought.'It was poison.I'm already dying, and now, no one will ever know.I'll just be another disappearance.I'll never see any of my sisters again… except Iria maybe.Maybe she'll be waiting for me.'

A wave of despair clutched at his heart, making him gasp.'Iria… I'm scared.'His tears felt warm on his cheeks and he was thankful he at least had the strength to cry.It was colder now though.Darkness seeped about him, swallowing him till he couldn't even feel his heart beat anymore.

Quatre said a silent prayer for his friends and family as the cold nothingness of death finally claimed him.

TBC

No worries guys.This is not a story about necrophilia, so things will turn out ok… kinda.You'll see.

Love Caer

Heero and Quatre in Love

http://www.geocities.com/caerfree/Index.net

"I respect faith, but it is doubt that gets you an education" ~Bruce Lee~


	2. The Forgotten 2

Forgotten 2

Two figures flitted through the streets, one black, one white.The unabating heat cast visible waves in the air surrounding and they could look to be no more than mirages, wavering in the shadowless empty streets, before disappearing without a sound.

It was night now, but the light cells that once provided emulated sunlight had long burned out and now only the auxiliary lights were left… long burning fluorescent lights that cast a greenish haze on everything and never turned off.The colony was heated only by vented, stale, recycled air that was constantly pumped in during the day and turned off at night… or what used to be night, forcing most people underground or into the more insulated buildings in the place.The remaining heat would keep the colony from freezing until the morning, when it once again came to life, waking with a throbbing hum and spewing it's stifling heat. This would go on, unregulated until it inevitably broke.When this happened, many people could freeze to death and many had, in fact, before anyone came along to fix it.Otherwise, the heat on the streets was unbearable most of the time, though today had been a better day.

The fact was, no one was really around to see the wavering forms as they moved through the alleyways and… if they didn't have a choice, the open streets.It was too hot, and too silent.

The danger of wandering the streets was that there was always a very good chance of being the unfortunate victim of a bored gang's target practice.The target practice was done with slingshots and rocks and bottles of course.It was more like a stoning.There were no guns anymore.The last of the law enforcement had taken everything with them, when they finally decided to abandon the colony and let the criminals run loose.

With a war going on, there had been no one to pay attention.

But now, the war was long over and the rest of civilization was, for the most part, too busy recovering their own damages to pay attention to an abandoned world that wasn't worth their time anyway, being laden with thieves and murderers.They were last in priority as far as most were concerned.

No one realized in times like these that generations had gone by.

"Hey Wufei, why aren't we using the Lincoln passage?"Duo whispered as they ran to a more visible entrance to reach the subway.

"Slicers."He replied."There were three of them on the way.I figured this was safer."

Duo cursed quietly."I'll never understand how you do that."

Wufei grinned."Your problem is you think too loudly and too much my friend."He whispered back.

Duo laughed and continued, once again reflecting on how lucky he had been to find Wufei.He had saved both Duo and the children countless times since.Duo could never thank him enough.

He stopped when he realized that his Chinese companion was no longer at his side.Duo whirled instantly, ready for a fight, but Wufei simply stood quietly in front of an overflowing dumpster.

"Hey, Wufei, why are you stopping?"Duo whispered harshly, looking at the windows above for possible danger.

Wufei raised his hand and pointed.Duo followed it to see a body.It was covered with a large blanket, but it was definitely a body.

"Jesus."Duo growled quietly, shaking his head."They don't even have enough respect to use the incinerator?"He ranted quietly."People are dying everywhere from disease already.Don't they get it?"

"Most of them don't care anymore my friend." 

"I suppose we should take care of it."

Wufei nodded. "Yes and…"

"What."

"Don't get mad Maxwell."

"What is it?"

"If the body is still fresh, we should take the blanket."

Duo tensed, looking down.He sighed."I hate it Wufei… I really hate it.But God knows we need it."

Wufei looked silently at his companion.

"Do you want me to carry it?"

Duo shook his head, eyes still closed.

"You keep watch.I'll get it."

"What if it's someone you know?"

Duo sighed bitterly."I already know death too well Wufei.At least if I knew them… I can keep them alive in my memory.It's all I can give."

Wufei nodded and turned, giving the boy some privacy.Duo knelt down, steeling himself for the task.No matter how many times he did it, it still ate at his soul.He had buried so many friends.

"Sorry friend."He whispered."At least you'll get a funeral of some sort."

He took a deep breath, held it and pulled the blanked down.

****

Randolph Winner woke in his chair to the loud rumbling of the ship docking.They were back on 04-L3.The empty liquor bottle that rested on the edge of the table fell harmlessly to the carpeted floor as the giant ship shook slightly.Winner checked his planner and started.Was it that time already?

He needed a shower.The press would be waiting.He had just risen stiffly and dropped the empty bottle in the trash when his office door slid open.He looked up to see Rashid.The imposing man walked in and the tension from him was almost palatable in the air.Winner waited.Rashid didn't come unless it was important.

"Sir."The man said gruffly."I am giving you my formal resignation.You will never see or hear of me again, but I can not stay in your employment any longer."

Winner frowned.Rashid was a hard worker.He was more reliable than most.He looked up, squinting a bit at the bright light that filtered through the door.The man looked sincere.

"Very well Rashid.If that's what you need to do.You've been a good worker.I'll see to it that ten thousand credits are wired to your account immediately."

"Don't bother sir!"Rashid's voice was strained.He was visibly angered for a moment, but calmed."I don't require any incentive to vanish sir.I want no more to do with this.You can be sure that my name will never again meet your ears except in past reference.Good day sir."

Winner stared hard at the man.The faced each other only for a moment before Rashid turned and walked out.Winner walked over and retrieved his glass from the desk.From the bar, he poured himself a shot of whiskey in the bottom of the glass and downed it before filling it up again.He wracked his sleep soaked brain trying to think of why Rashid would want so badly to leave…

Oh yes.

*** 

Duo gasped as he saw the body underneath.

Wufei… worried, looked back.

"Is it bad?"

"Yeah.He's young."

Wufei turned to get a better look.

"At least he's not a child.He must have just died."

Duo nodded."I wonder who he was."He put a hand up to touch wisps of hair a color he had never seen before.

"Probably someone's whore-slave.He's that attractive, and his clothes are too nice.Either he got sick, or he got disobedient."

"Maybe."Duo said.He suddenly pulled away though as if stung.

"What?What's wrong?"Wufei asked, looking quickly for danger before kneeling down by his friend.

"He's hot Wu!"Duo said, now noticing sweat on the kid's head.Definitely not condensation.It was sweat.Duo grabbed a pale wrist."There's a pulse, but he's not breathing."

Duo pulled the limp body down to lie on the mottled pavement, tipping the blond head back and leaning forward. 

"Duo!"Wufei grabbed the boy's shoulder.Duo turned, angry, already knowing what his friend would say.

"You don't know what he might have."

Duo stared down."I can't let him die."He growled."It's murder."

"What about the children Duo?"Wufei glared at his friend, momentarily forgetting about their surroundings.

Duo smiled sadly.

"They'd still have you, wouldn't they Wu?"He got no answer, but a fearful realization in the jet black eyes."I'm sorry I can't.I have to try, Wufei.It's what the Father would have done.You'd better keep watch.

Wufei looked down at the lifeless boy and cursed, turning again.

Duo looked gratefully at his friend.He bent down and closed his lips over the pale lips of the inert boy and breathed air into the still lungs, just as Father Maxwell had taught him to when he was still alive.

Several breaths, but there was no response.Duo whispered a curse.He looked to the sky and prayed this hadn't been a risk for nothing, when, bending down to try again, he saw the boys chest moving faintly under it's own power.

Duo froze.He breathed a silent "Thank you" to the lord and proceeded to check the boy for broken bones.When he found none, he clumsily lifted the body, using the limp hands to pull him into a fireman's carry.Wufei stepped forward to help him.

"You better stay away Wufei."

The Chinese boy's hand froze in midair.

"I don't need you getting sick too if he is. You'd better get Trowa.I'll take him home."

Wufei looked about."I'll see you to the subway."

Duo smiled and turned, bouncing a little to get the limp figure more securely situated.He walked as fast as he could without jiggling the blond too much.Wufei followed behind, his mind alert to any possible danger.Once they reached the subway entrance, Duo turned.Wufei looked worried, but the braided youth smiled.

"Trowa's the only one who can help.Don't take to long, eh Wufei?"

"I don't like it."Wufei growled."You're at a disadvantage."

Duo snorted."I can put him down if I need to fight.You worry too much.Besides, this place is pretty safe.I'll be all right."

Wufei sighed."Your stubbornness is going to get you killed someday." With that and a shake of his head, the boy in white was gone.Duo turned and headed into the darkness.

He knew the tunnels by heart.You had to if you didn't have lights.The underground was a haven from the driving heat in the streets of the colony though.He headed for home with sure but tentative feet, careful not to trip under his burden on some new obstacle, be it something small, like a bottle, or a rat, or in the worst case, a body.

After several turns, miles and no confrontations, Duo came to a small room.He could hear the soft voices of his rather large family down the tunnel a ways, but he was not headed there.

After dealing with more illnesses than one should have to, Father Maxwell had commandeered this room as his "Quarantine" room.Any child with even the slightest signs of sickness was immediately locked in here, where only the Father would go.Duo had spent a lot of time in this room.It always scared the children, but it needed to be there… to keep the rest safe from fatal illnesses.There had been many times when children hadn't come back after "The Room"…on several occasions, Duo was in there at the time.Somehow he always survived though.Sometimes he thought that all those times spent in quarantine with the Father, reading and studying the good book, and playing quiet, thinking games, was what brought them so close together.Father Maxwell had ended up passing his weary torch to Duo, saying that Duo would find a way to make things better if anyone could.

He closed the door to the small stone chamber quietly, trying not to make his presence known.Wufei would tell the others.He quietly lowered his burden haphazardly to the small mattress in the corner and went to find the light.

It was what was called a light cell actually.An oblong rubbery feeling sphere about the size of a man, it absorbed natural light and then could keep the energy from that light for at least twenty days before fading.They could be found in the prison buildings where they were placed as if skylights so that they absorbed the light from outside. They were heat sensitive, so if someone touched it, or heated the surrounding air sufficiently, they would fade on.Otherwise, they would fade and lie dormant until they were heat activated again.Right now, it was too cold in here for movement alone to trigger it, so Duo found the cell and rubbed it vigorously until it slowly lit up.Soon enough, the room would be sufficiently warm to keep the light going.For now, he picked the ungainly thing up and set it down on the inside of the mattress, next to the boy to examine him.

Duo cursed, as he realized the boy was again not breathing, though he had been a few seconds ago.He again placed his mouth over that of the blond stranger and tried to aid his lungs to action.This time it was easier and after two breaths, the boy was again breathing on his own. 

Duo straightened the blond out on the mattress, removing his shoes.They were nice shoes.Usually, the charity hauls they got from WE were either used, or cheap and rarely lasted.These sports shoes were practically new and pretty fancy compared to what he was used to.He set them next to the bed and took the socks off next.The khaki shorts the boy wore were loose and easy to remove, as were the boxers, which were silk.Duo frowned in thought.Silk was almost impossible to get from the charity bins.Duo took those off too, suspecting that the boy would not be strong enough to relieve himself for a while.He left the t-shirt on.It was clean cotton and was probably more comfortable than anything they could scrounge from their small store of hand me downs.The shirt was soft white stretchable fabric with a couple of buttons at the throat, which he undid.The boy still didn't move.His chest rose and fell lightly, shuddering a bit, but he was pale and silent.Duo wasn't sure how long he would last.

****

"Sir, I don't think it would be wise to let Rashid just go."Mueller said, frustrated.

"Why?"Winner said casually, making entries on his small organizer in his lavish office back on Colony."The man is honest.He won't talk.If he does, he's a murderer.He wants nothing to do with it."Winner clapped the organizer closed and stood up.He straightened his tie."He'll take his family and disappear."

"But he hasn't even reached the shuttleport yet.I could take care of him."

"Brilliant, Brian.Then I would have two suspicious deaths racing through the newsbits.On L2, it's understandable, but here?It's better to leave it be.If he brings anything to light, I'll slap a murder case on him so quick, he'll wish he had died on L2 with the boy.He can't touch me."The man said with chilling surety."He's nothing." He added, turning to his guard of 25 years.

Then he froze.

"Sir?"Mueller asked, turning.

Winner turned quickly, staring at his chair.

"Are you all right sir?" 

The older man breathed shallowly for a second, before pursing his lips, looking up.

"Fine."He replied."Let's get this thing over with."

Mueller nodded and touched the panel by the door.It slid open quietly and Winner walked out, heading for the press conference where he would address the loss of his son.

"After you sir."Mueller said before taking one last glance around the room and following his boss.

***

"I found him Duo."

Duo looked up to see the wooden door open to the small room and a tall, lanky boy with dust colored hair that was pulled back in a short tail on top, while the rest was shaved close to his head.He had striking green eyes that were both gentle and intense.He walked toward the makeshift bed, his rucksack slung over his shoulder as he kneeled by the boy.Wufei stayed by the door.

"Trowa?How did you get here so fast?Duo asked incredulous.Getting to Heero's territory was not an easy trip."

"I was on my way, so we took the scooter back."

Duo smiled despite himself and looked up at the Chinese boy, trying to imagine the stodgy Wufei riding behind Trowa on that ridiculous thing.Wufei shot him an indignant glare.

"Don't even say it Maxwell.It got us here."He turned and strode out, slamming the door.Duo laughed as he heard Wufei mutter all the way back to check on the children.He turned back to the task at hand.Trowa had taken out some implements but hadn't touched the boy yet.He had pulled on some clear rubber gloves to protect himself from contagion as best he could.Duo sat far enough away so that they didn't touch.

"What are his symptoms?"He asked quietly.

"What isn't there?" Duo said, unconsciously lowering his voice too, even though it made no difference."I can't keep him breathing, though he's doing better now.He's hotter than Hades and he's not reacting at all.He won't wake up."

"Hm…"Trowa slipped a flat metal device into the boy's mouth to examine his tongue and checked under both eyelids.He shook the boy gently."Wake up boy.Come on."He said in a gentle tone."Get me that bedpan, Duo."

Duo complied, handing him the battered old thing.Trowa brought out a bottle and held the boy's head up and back, letting a good drink of the dark liquid slide into his slack mouth, then rubbing his throat until he swallowed.

"I think he's been poisoned."He said as the pale boy convulsed suddenly, Trowa turned his head in time for him to vomit a generous amount of red liquid into the pan.He coughed but still made no sign of waking at all.Trowa held his head until he was sure the kid wouldn't choke and then lowered his head back to the mattress.

"Poisoned?"

"I think so."Trowa shrugged."Judging by his reaction and the way his lungs keep shutting down, it must be paralysis.Since we have no animals or diseased that do that as far as I know, it must be poison."

"Sherlock Holmes, eat your heart out."

Trowa smiled."The problem is, paralytic drugs are usually injected… but I can't do anything about that if it is the case.Still, I have a feeling that if you keep him breathing, the poison will run through his system and he'll be ok."

"And that's it?"Duo smiled.Not so bad.The kid could make it.

"No." Trowa stayed Duo's relief with a steady and serious gaze."He has the Orchid virus as well."

"Well that's not so bad."Duo shrugged and pulled the cover over the boy, who was actually stirring a bit.The braided teen watched, but the strange kid stilled.He looked back up at Trowa."We've both had it and it wasn't so bad."

"Maybe."Trowa said, reaching into his bag."But I've never seen someone that old contract it.It's worse as you get older.You could be in for a rough time."The tall boy took out a small bag and handed it to Duo."It's tea.It should help with the sore throat.Otherwise, he needs a lot of water."

"Right."Trowa stood up to leave."Duo.He could still die.He's not anywhere near well enough to be safe yet."

Duo nodded."But at least, we tried Trowa.Everyone deserves that."

Trowa smiled in silent understanding."Yes.Yes they do…"

"Well?What do I owe ya?"Duo smiled trying to break the silence.Trowa hefted his bag higher on his shoulder.

"Actually, I was on my way here to ask for some help from some of you.You'll be busy, but the crop came in early and we need some extra help.Otherwise, I would have suggested exposing the rest of your kids to this."He gestured at the sleeping blond.

"Thanks."Duo said sarcastically."That's all Wu and I need.Go ahead and talk to him.He'll send some of the older ones."

"Thanks Duo.Good luck."Trowa shook his hand with a firm, yet gentle grasp and headed off.

Duo shut the door, turning back.The boy was still breathing and seemed to look a little better.He was still burning hot though.Duo got a rag and a bowl of warm water, sponging the boy's forehead and hands, trying to cool him down.

He stared silently at the handsome blond, wondering why it felt so important that he keep him alive.There was definitely something different about him.

The boy shifted a bit and moaned unhappily.Duo rubbed the wet rag over his neck and face gently.He sighed, sitting down by the mattress.

"Well kid… Looks like it's just you and me for a while."


	3. The Forgotten 3

The Forgotten 

Part 3

By Caer

~

Just some notes…

First of all, though I use the name Mueller, he is much older in this story and not really based at all on the character in the anime.

Second of all, I know that a few of you were a bit… wary of my having a catholic boy being gay.  I just want to assure you that there will be sufficient explanation of this in the story.  For one, it's AC 195.  You can be dead sure that religion has mutated from what it is today.  Second of all, a catholic missionary raised Duo.  That doesn't mean he was force fed a staunch religion.  Thirdly, no matter what the bible says, it all depends on who is interpreting it.  There are plenty of religious sects today that read the bible, worship the lord and are still gay, so it's not uncommon.

No worries mates, I thought about all of this too.  ^__^

Lastly, I can't thank you all enough for the wonderful reviews I've gotten for this fic thus far.  I'm so sorry I haven't worked on it in so long.  Times are bad for me.  Very bad.  I had to drop out of things for a bit.  All of your kind words helped while I was in this rut.  Thank you.  I may be slower in writing now, but I won't ever leave a story unfinished!

Thank you so much to Lorena, kelley, katreve, goruda, jefcat, aja lena, Kasra, Diana, Iczer, Star, Dej and about a thousand other people for all their kindness during this time.  I really needed it and I hope to do the same for all of you when things go bad.

I love you all.

Now… on with the fic!

No, wait, one more thing.  The "Orchid Virus" doesn't exist.  I made it up.  I did have a flu that was very like this, just not as long lasting.  

~~

He was drowning, choking.  The noise was unbearable.  There was a roaring everywhere and disjointed images flitted through his mind as simulations of pasts, futures and lives he lived in his dreams only.  The only constant in the turmoil of his mind, was the terrible burning in his throat.  He felt wet… as though someone had poured water on his bed sheets.  Yes. He knew he was in bed… vaguely, but anytime he tried to force his eyes to open when he could actually feel a bed underneath him or hear real sounds, his lids would prove too heavy and close shut again, throwing him back into a world where people loomed over him and the pain in his throat, blurred to a pain that permeated his entire existence.   It seemed inescapable.  

Duo tried his best to calm the thrashing figure on the bed.  The blond stranger had somehow made it through his suspected poisoning, but now he was in the dregs of the Orchid virus. A virus named for the way some rare strains of the plant bloomed violently for roughly a week before returning to normal.   The boy was definitely in the violent part.  His fever was raging and Duo hadn't slept, trying to keep the suffering boy cool in the stifling dry heat of the colony.  Even underground, there was little relief.  This was the third day.  It would be 4 more days before the boy recovered.  The heat wasn't helping either. Even underground, the heat of the Colony was severely uncomfortable.  All he could do was sponge the fevered skin with cool water and hope for the best.  At least it was a sure thing that the blond would convalesce now.

Duo was also having a hell of a time trying to get any liquid into the boy.  None of his kids had ever given him this much trouble. Trowa had said that the virus would be worse in someone older, but Duo thought that thirst would overrule the pain.  The worst symptom of the virus was an incredibly sore raw throat.  It hurt like hell.  It stuck even in Duo's memory as a feeling of having hot coals jammed down your throat constantly.  Drinking anything had felt like swallowing broken glass and alcohol.

That had been when Duo was seven.

The boy kept pushing it away, or not swallowing, or rolling away if he was able.  He was weak enough that Duo could force him, but it just wasn't enough.  

Duo sighed again.  He grabbed the plastic drinking bottle and sat the boy up in his arms.  Tilting the limp head backward, he squeezed the fluid out of the dropper-like top into the slack and open mouth.

"Come on kid.  Drink some.  Please."  The boy turned away, his brow crinkling, causing some of the liquid to dribble down onto the sweat-drenched neck.  Duo tried to nudge the bottle between slightly open lips and squeeze a few drops in.  "Come on."  He whispered soothingly.  "I know it hurts, but drink a little."

*    *     *

"Drink up son!"  Randolph Winner seemed to be standing miles away, yet Quatre could see him clearly.  The man leaning on the bar had a large glass of bourbon and ice and he shook it a little, playfully.   He was smiling his usual smile… his counterfeit media smile as he held the glass out to Quatre.  The man seemed insanely joyous.  Something his father never was.   "Have a drink boy!"

Quatre looked down at a glass of red liquid in his hand.  Some of it was leaking out, dripping down the pale skin of his wrist, dark like blood.  He looked back up.

His father was standing right in front of him, too close to him, leaning over and smiling, more severely now.  He loomed over Quatre with a smile so sinister, and Quatre could see the brown of his teeth and the blood under his hollow cheeks as he stared coldly down.  

"Drink up son."  He hissed and Quatre cried out and jerked back violently, throwing the red liquid on the ground.

"What a waste." He heard the fading muted voice of his father, even as his dreams faded into something and somewhere else.  He was in a bed and a boy was standing over him, with brown hair and the most amazing eyes.  He stared down kindly and though Quatre could hear the roaring everywhere, he felt a little bit better.

As he looked at the boy though he blinked and realized it hadn't been a boy at all, but his father staring down at him.  There was no warmth.  It was his father just staring.

Staring.

Staring.

And as Quatre closed his eyes and turned away, still fearing that his father would kill him, knowing that he had a knife or a gun and the strike would come any time now.  He waited, his body tight with fear and anticipation when… the dream once again faded into unending noises and dark figures and pain.

It had seemed unending.  It had been a constant load of horrific images and sounds and a burning feeling.  He felt like he must have gone mad.

It was so loud.

And then it stopped.

It was quiet.  The dreams were gone.  He was in a small bed, hot and drenched with sweat.  God, his throat hurt.

But it was quiet and it was real.  He hoped it was.  He looked up and saw the same boy from the dream.   Quatre closed his heavy eyes and opened them again.  It seemed he was awake.  It was only this boy, about his age, wiping a cloth over his fevered neck.  He smiled and ran a gentle hand through Quatre's wet hair, saying something Quatre didn't understand as he succumbed again to exhaustion, but this time, fell into a peaceful dreamless sleep.

***

"How is he?"

Wufei shut the door behind him and Duo started out of an uncomfortable doze from his chair by the bed.  The Chinese boy walked in, carrying a pot of stew.  It smelled of spices and meat.  Duo's stomach growled and he gave it a stern look.

"Did everyone else eat?" Duo asked scratchily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"No."  Wufei replied, setting the repast down on the small table.  "I'm letting them starve so I can feed you and your street walker friend here."

Duo pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut.

"You can really be a smart ass you know that?"

Wufei only smiled silently.  He nodded again at the pallid boy under the sheet.

"Has he shown improvement?"

"A little."  Duo grabbed the rag, fallen from his charge's forehead and wiped another small layer of sweat from the fevered skin.  "His fever's broken and come back a couple of times now. He won't drink and he hasn't come awake once.  He's opened his eyes a couple of times, but no focus.  I may need you to get Trowa again."  Duo bit his lip worriedly.

Duo looked up to see a sincerely amused smile softening the Chinese boy's usually sharp features.

"What?"  He asked moodily, raising an eyebrow.

Wufei shook his head, still smiling.  "Nothing Maxwell."  He poured some soup into one of the bowls and handed it over.  "I'll come back to get the dishes later, but don't do anything stupid by feeding the boy from your bowl.  Who knows what else he's contracted from his… profession."

"Wufei…" Duo warned, not wanting to argue right now.  Wufei looked him straight in the eye.  "I mean it Maxwell.  You're too trusting."

Duo nodded.  He was angered by Wufei's comments somehow, but he couldn't put words to it.  It either meant he was tired and needed to wait… or that Wufei was right and he needed to just shut up and listen.  Wufei "hm'd" in satisfaction and left before an uncomfortable silence could permeate the room.

*     *      *

 At least twenty men stood below the podium, looking up, waiting for him to begin his speech.  He increased his look of sorrow a bit, taking a moment to look down and take a moment to let the drama sink in.  He was careful to leave a bit of mucous in his throat so that his first attempt at speaking was choked.  

"My…" He coughed a little to clear the passage, took a breath and straightened.  He smiled a little as he saw the look of sorrow in the eyes of some of the women reporters.  What sheep.

"Winner Enterprises has suffered a tragedy today."  His voice was calculatingly rough, as if he had been crying.  As if.  "My son accompanied me to assist in the SSIP program.  It was a program designed to help the people of L2… a program he was very fond of.  He was working on some rogue machines that malfunctioned, out in the field, trying to repair them when."

Winner rubbed his eyes tiredly before continuing.

"A gang that was attempting to steal supplies from the relief station attacked him… and … and he was killed."

Half of the reporters went silent, while the other half surged forward, shouting questions.

"How old was he?"

"How was he killed?"

"Will you be continuing the SSIP project?"

Randolph Winner held up a hand.

"Please.  My son just died.  You have my statement.  All I can say is that we will continue SSIP.  It is something my son truly believed in.  Gangs like this wouldn't exist had we aided these people sooner.  In memory of my son, I will aid this forgotten society to climb out of their poverty.  Thank you."

There was applause, but mostly a surge of reporters who weren't satisfied.  Nothing new.  Randolph exited with Mueller in tow.

"I think that went rather well, don't you?"

As he made his way out to his limousine, the crowds were lined up to see him.  He quickly put a hand to the bridge of his nose for effect.  They would eat this up in the media.  He stole a quick glance at the crowd and froze, his hands dropping to his sides.

"Mr. Winner?"  Mueller paused with him.  "Mr. Winner."

Randolph stood frozen for a moment, staring out into the crowd, focused on someone or something Mueller couldn't fathom.  Then he blinked clouded olive eyes, and stepped back, searching the crowd in confusion, but whatever he had seen was gone now.

"Sorry Mr. Mueller.  I thought I saw someone I knew."

Mueller nodded slowly, making a mental note to get his boss to see a doctor.  Too much stress probably.  They continued on to the limo and drove slowly out of the burgeoning crowd.

*   *    *

Duo rose from his chair, grimacing as his muscles protested.  He stretched his arms over his head, yawning mightily.  As he relaxed his stagnant muscles, he was able to think a bit more clearly.  He was at the point that he needed something to occupy his mind while he was stuck here.

"I never was very good at meditation."  He muttered.  "Sorry kid."  Duo said, rising and pulling a dog-eared old book from the small bookshelf that stood in the corner.  "But we aren't going anywhere and I'm bored as all hell."  He pulled a small metal chair to the side of the bed and sat down.  The sound of it scraping on the stone floor caused the boy to stir a bit and open his eyes.  They didn't close again completely.  Tired little slits managed to reveal dull green eyes that were almost but not quite focused on his braided caretaker.  Duo smiled, not knowing whether the boy could see him or not, but wanting him to feel comfortable.

"You've probably never seen that many books.  For that matter, you probably don't even care."  Duo laughed at himself.  "This is a tradition though, so you'll have to deal with it… at least until you're strong enough to tell me to shut up."  He laughed, waving the book at the boy.

"Really, it's more for me.  I'll go stir-crazy if I don't have something to do in this cell."  He sat down, propping his feet up on the bed and turning to the first page.

Duo leaned back, setting one leg on the bed and crossing the other over to support the old book, opening the yellowed pages and beginning to read as he always did to the sick, and as Father Maxwell did before him.

"In the ancient city of London, on a certain autumn day in the second quarter of the sixteenth century, a boy was born to a poor family of the name of Canty, who did not want him."

*       *      *

Quatre came to consciousness slowly and as he moaned, trying to justify to himself that he was still alive, though he could barely move and, try as he might, he couldn't open his eyes.  He heard a harsh squeak next to his head and a rustling.  A cool rag was wiped roughly across his eyes and though it hurt a little on his over sensitive skin, Quatre didn't try to stop it since it was cleaning the crust of mucous that locked his eyelids shut by the lashes.  He blinked blearily and looked up to see a familiar face.  He opened his mouth to talk, but all that came was a throaty squeak.

"Shhh.  Don't try to talk yet.  Here."  The boy from his dreams reached over and grabbed a clear plastic bottle with a dropper like opening at the end.  He slid his arm easily under Quatre's shoulders and held him up, placing the bottle end at his lips.  "Have some water first."  

Quatre opened his mouth weakly and accepted the somewhat cool liquid.  He almost jerked as it hit his throat. The pain burned right down to his toes and his chest constricted harshly as he swallowed on reflex.   He coughed, making his throat hurt even worse.  The boy holding him tightened his grip and spoke softly. 

"I know it hurts kid, but you've gotta force yourself to drink something."

Quatre nodded and raised an arm weakly to take the bottle from his benefactor.  His hand shook with weakness as he held the bottle up to his lips and forced himself to drink. 

It hurt.  God it hurt, but he forced the stuff down his throat, trying not to tear up from the pain.  Soon though, his throat began to feel a little better.  He must have been dehydrated, for now his head started to clear and things didn't seem so hazy and dull.  He managed a grateful look at his savior as he handed the bottle back. 

"Where are we?"  His scratchy voice sounded faint as a breath of air.  The braided boy leaned closer in to hear.

"Underground.  Don't worry.  You're safe."  The boy brushed the damp blond hair from the Quatre's forehead lovingly, causing Quatre a good deal of wonder, relief and surprise all at once.  Who was this guy?  Did he know what had happened?  Quatre barely remembered it himself.  The memories were coming back in little pieces as he searched his brain, trying to glue together what he could recall.  He didn't know what happened after drinking the tea in the car.  In fact at this moment, he was just trying to deal with the fact that he was most definitely not dead.  He felt like death warmed over, but he was, in fact, quite alive.  He was sure.  Death couldn't possibly feel this miserable.

"If you please?  Who are you?"

For some reason, the boy's eyes flashed with brief confusion before he answered.  The look was fleeting though and the boy flashed him a big grin that somehow made Quatre feel very… safe.

"Duo Maxwell's my full name.  You can call me Duo, but uh… most know me as Shinigami." He said, giving Quatre a saucy wink.

"Oh." Quatre replied, trying to figure out what that meant.  It obviously had some significance to the boy, but what, he couldn't fathom.

Duo frowned.  His street name should have produced some reaction from the kid, yet he was oblivious.  His speech was also strange.  Had the poison affected his memory as well?   Something wasn't quite right and Duo had a nagging suspicion as to why.

Further contemplation was brushed away though as the blonde's eyes began to droop.  Duo smiled, masking his distress, and pulled the covers up over the boy who was once again dropping off into slumber.

"Get some sleep kid."

"Quatre."  The blond boy mumbled.

"Quatre."  Duo whispered kindly as he squeezed the washcloth in the basin free of water and replaced it on the boy's forehead.

"Duo?"

"Yes?"  He replied softly to the drifting boy.

"Would you read some more?"

"You heard?"  He said with some small surprise.  He had thought the boy completely oblivious.

"Mmmm…"  The blond yawned weakly and settled into the shabby pillow beneath him.  "I liked it."

"Wha…"  Duo looked down at the blond, who finally sported some faint color to his cheeks.  His eyes were closed and Duo sensed more than saw that he was on the verge of healing sleep.  The confused boy blinked twice, before grabbing the tattered old book and settling down to maintain his vigil. 


	4. The Forgotten 4

The Forgotten 4 

Twelve bedraggled orphans lay in various stages of sleep as a weary Wufei closed the door upon their small community bedroom.  There had been no time for contemplation or relaxation for two days now and the Chinese boy found himself wishing for a little of Duo Maxwell's seemingly endless amounts of energy.  With the six older boys and two eldest girls spending the week with Trowa and Heero, Wufei had found quite a headache in taking care of the remaining dozen scoundrels who had almost as much energy as Duo.  He sighed as he made one last sandwich for the day to take to his braided companion and heated up some broth for the blond whore he was nursing back to health.   

Wufei couldn't help but feel that something didn't quite add up.  He was poisoned, but not beaten or even raped as far as Duo had revealed.  He was quite unmarked for someone of his profession.  That probably meant that he had belonged to one gang lord for a long time.  So why would someone kill him?  Even if he had defied his owner, he probably would only have been punished… maybe even broken, but not simply killed.  He was really too pretty for that.  The only thing Wufei's imagination could come up with is if a boss had refused to sell him and the offended party took the boy away.  

Maybe they had a spy kill him within his own turf base.  That still didn't explain why the body would just be dumped rather than incinerated.  Even if the poisoning was nothing but an accident.  Yes, that was another explanation.  Perhaps he had overdosed on a new drug?  If he were owned by one of the drug lords, that would explain his nice clothes.

Wufei poured the warm broth into a small battered metal bowl next to the sandwich and made his way to the quarantine room, carrying a tray that held both.  

There was another explanation for the boy's appearance, but Wufei wasn't too sure he liked the possibility.  Duo seemed to have some sort of sympathy for the boy.  It wouldn't bode well for either of them if his third and more disturbing suspicion turned out to be true.

He knocked on the door before entering and found Duo asleep in the chair beside the sick boy, who, for his part seemed to hold a little more color than before.  It was starting to smell a little too much like old sweat and the Chinese boy couldn't help but make a sour face and leave the door open.

"You look like shit, Wufei.  Have you slept at all?"

Wufei set the tray on the small table by the sink and looked at his friend, who now had his eyes cracked open.

"A bit.  Have you?"

"Yeah."  He got up and shuffled over to the sandwich, taking a huge bite and closing his eyes in pleasure.   "Mmmm. Trowa brought fresh meat.  He's a saint."   He chewed reverently.  

"A gift for the free labor."  Wufei watched his friend eat, silently noting the haggard look about his friend.  Even all that energy couldn't take three days of almost no sleep.  He turned his attention to the convalescent.  "How is your guest?  He looks better."

Duo nodded.  "He's been asleep for a while now.  The fever is lower.  I figure he should be able to join the rest of us soon."

"So you're intent on adopting him then?"

Duo shrugged, still chewing on his sandwich as he talked.  "I don't know what else we can do.  Someone tried to kill him so he's not safe out on the streets."

"What if he won't stay?"

Wufei caught the fleeting look of worry.  But Duo just shook his head, resignedly.

"It's his life I guess.  Still…"

"You want him, don't you?"

Duo eyed Wufei warily.  "Kinda.  Why?"

Wufei sighed.  "If whoever owned him were to find out that you had him, we would be hard pressed to keep the children safe.  Especially if the boy doesn't want any part of you.  Or do you think you could win him over with a promise of freedom?  But what if he gets stopped on the street and tells someone how to get here?"

Duo nodded.  "You're right as usual.  It's just… he's so, so exotic.  I mean, look at his hair.  And have you seen his eyes?  I guess not.   I can't help but… want him.  Besides, he's better off with us whether he'd accept me or not."  Duo said, finally setting his sandwich down.  "I don't think I could just throw him back on the street."

"You'll have to think about it.  Our security is fragile enough as it is.  We can't risk the children."

"I know,"  He acquiesced.  "He may not want this anyway."

"Want what?"  A groggy but clear voiced chimed from the corner, causing two heads to turn.  Duo threw on a smile.

"Hey Quatre.   How you feelin'?"  

Wufei bowed slightly.  "The broth is for him.  I'll retire now.  You could do with some sleep as well."  He said pointedly, eyeing his friend, only to be met with a tired grin.

"Thanks Wufei."  

Wufei closed the door.  "Good luck Duo."  He whispered to himself as he headed for bed.

Duo picked up the bowl of broth and moved over to the small bed, kneeling down.  The blond smiled a bit. 

"I feel better.  Thank you."  He said politely.

"Up to some broth?"  

Quatre nodded and tried to sit up on his own.  He was somewhat successful and at least ended up in a slumped position.  He ignored the rubbery feeling in his arms to take the bowl and hold it to his lips while his caretaker watched.  The first swallow caused his throat to protest and he coughed a bit, squeezing his eyes shut in pain.  The salt of the broth bit at his tender esophagus, but then he could drink the rest without too much discomfort.  His stomach grumbled at the first bit of food he had ingested in days.  When the soup was half gone, his strength threatened to give out and he lowered the bowl to his lap to take a breath.

"You okay?"

Quatre nodded weakly.  "Yeah… I just, I feel so weak,"  he admitted.  

Duo took the bowl.  "After a fever like that it's not surprising.  You've been out for four days."

Quatre's eyes widened in surprise.  Had it been that long?  He looked up again.  Now realizing that the smiling boy who looked far older than he was had been taking care of him day and night for that long, he could see dark circles under purple eyes.  Quatre wanted to thank him properly, but more pressing urges made themselves known.  He sighed and wiggled uncomfortably.

"Duo, I hate to bother you… but I sort of have to go to the bathroom."

Duo watched the blond look at him pleadingly.  He smiled.  The kid was pretty mellow.  Maybe it was because he had nowhere else to go, but Duo had expected at least a little attitude.  This one seemed a little green somehow.  Something niggled at the back of his braided head, but he chose to ignore the thought for now.  There was time for questions later.

"Well, " He said, "if you want, you can stay in bed and just let go.  You're sort of set up for it."

Quatre sputtered and blushed, saying "What?"  Even as he began to figure out what the boy meant.  If he had been bedridden for four days…    Already, he could feel the attachment that had kept him from soiling the bed, now that he was thinking about it.  He looked down in embarrassment, feeling his cheeks heat.

"Oh."  He said meekly.  "I think I'd rather get up."

Duo laughed though.  "It's no big deal."  Quatre looked up.  "I've done this hundreds of times.  You're not the only sick boy I've nursed."

Quatre could see the logic in this judging by the contraption he was attached to that currently kept the bed dry.  He once again saw that ageless look in the purple eyes.  This boy, Duo, must have seen some horrible things on such an unforgiving colony.  That he was no stranger to caring for the sick seemed quite apparent in both his words and Quatre's senses.  Quatre steeled himself.  He was in the heart of a dangerous, desperate, poor society and somehow he had found a friend.  He was grateful to be alive, really.  He set aside his shame and nodded.  

Duo chuckled and turned so that he was beside the somewhat upright blond.  He grabbed an arm and settled himself under the boy's shoulder, helping him toward the edge of the bed.  Quatre mustered up enough energy to scootch to the edge of the bed, but when he stood, his legs betrayed him.  

"I don't think I can do this."  He admitted as he teetered back and forth on wobbly legs, unable to keep his balance.  He was already feeling dizzy.

"That's ok.  This is enough."  Duo replied and he hefted Quatre up in his arms, eliciting a startled gasp from the blond and he threw his arms up around Duo's neck to steady himself.  "Ah…. You're not as heavy as I thought."  He smiled down at the flushed blond, walked to the door.  Pulling it open with his toe, he made his way down the underground corridor.  "Our bathroom's not the best, but there are worse."

That the bathroom being 'not the best' was quite the understatement.  The small room was not much to look at, or smell.  A toilet-like structure sat on a hole in the floor.  As Quatre looked down, he could see water running below it.  It was very dirty water by the looks of it and of course, it explained the smell.

"We're in the sewers,"  Quatre mused quietly.  He hadn't realized .

They made their way over to the meager structure and Duo let Quatre's legs lower to the ground.

"Do you think you can stand on your own for a minute?  You can hold on to my shoulders."

Quatre nodded.  "Yeah.  I think so."

He mustered up his energy and stood shakily while Duo moved in front of him and lifted his T-shirt to remove the lightly fastened tube and plastic bladder from his unmentionable bits.  Quatre blushed, frustrated.  He was still a little aroused from waking up.  He remained silent.  What would he say anyway?

"Don't worry about it so much Quatre."  Duo laughed, looking up.  "I've told you, I've done this hundreds of times.  You're all right, ok?"

Quatre nodded gratefully.

"Ok then."  Duo stood back up and moved under Quatre's arm to give him some much needed support.  His legs were threatening to give out.  "I'll hold on to you while you take care of business?"

"Yeah."  Quatre decided now that he needed to be over being embarrassed.  He had to go so severely; his bladder was about to burst.  He might as well think of Duo as a doctor here.    Duo looked away while he relieved himself.  He sighed as the pressure was released.  Duo looked back before he was finished.

"You're still dehydrated,"  He noted.  Quatre agreed.  Both the color and smell of his urine indicated as much.  "We can take care of that later at least,"  Duo said with a bright spirit.  He directed Quatre to the corner of the small dark room, which appeared to be lit only by an opening high above, and a well-placed mirror.  In the corner, sat a small oval tub, roughly seven by three feet.  Rather than being flat, however, it was bent up at one end, which made it ideal for sitting, Quatre discovered, as he was gently lowered into the contraption.  Though the metal was rather thin, the edges had been sanded down so as not to cut the user.  A long faucet hung over the makeshift tub and Duo turned it on while rotating the faucet out from over the tub.  A loud whine sounded from behind the stone walls before some brown water started to trickle out.  Soon, it cleared and Duo moved the faucet back.  The water was a bit cool but not cold.  Quatre winced at first as it hit his fevered, goose bump covered legs, but relaxed as the water cooled his feverish body.  Duo helped him remove his shirt completely now and moved away from the tub to discard it.

"You're lucky."  He said as he moved out of Quatre's sight.  "We never had running water until now.  Before SSIP came, we had to trade for it."

"But I thought it only ran to the relief stations."  Quatre offered weakly.

"True, but SSIP still had to get the colony water plant functioning again before they could get it there.  The water still runs through the old pipes down here before it gets there.  It's just that they only fixed the pipes that ran into the stations.  There are a couple of places up top that water will run now that it's all been fixed.  We had to tap into the pipes down here."

Duo returned to his side holding a threadbare rag and a chunk of what Quatre could only assume was soap.  The water had filled the tub by about three inches and Duo shut it off.  First dipping the rag in the water to saturate it, he moved the soaked cloth over Quatre's bare legs before he squeezed the water to drip down over Quatre's shoulders.  Compared to the hot room, the water was bliss.

"That's smart."  Quatre sighed.  Already, he felt exhausted.  He closed his eyes and relaxed, sighing his pleasure as Duo continued to squeeze the cool water onto his fevered skin.  Soon, he changed to using a soaped up rag, running the soap over his legs and up his sides and finally over his chest and stomach.  

"What's smart Quatre?"

Quatre opened his eyes.  What's smart?  He realized there had been quite a pause between Duo's words and his own reply.

"Oh."  He slurred tiredly.  "That you were able to build this and get the water."

Duo smiled.    "You wouldn't think that if we told you how many times we messed up before we figured it out."

Quatre smiled again and closed his eyes.  Duo watched with curiosity.  The boy had very few scars.  No tattoos and no piercings marred his light skin.  If Quatre was a sex pet, he should be marked up at least a little.   Of course he could have a master that wanted him unmarked.  If he was raised a sex pet, he might bring in a better price with unmarked skin.  It did give him a sort of innocent look.  So far, the boy hadn't said anything to place him anywhere.  He sounded a bit strange, like he possibly came from another part of the colony.  There was a sector where some Swedish families had some gangs.  The Germans were from that part too.  They sort of stuck to their own and Duo admittedly hadn't interacted with them too much except at the free market.  There was the Spanish sector too, but the blond obviously didn't fit that profile.

"Ngh…"  Duo looked up to see the blond asleep again, but dreaming bad things it seemed.  He was silent, but his head jerked and there was a worried expression on his face.  The pads on the bottom of the tub kept him from slipping down in his relaxed state.  Duo put a hand on the damp bare shoulder.

"Hey."  Quatre opened his eyes slowly.  Duo took that moment to wash the grime off his tired face and eyes.  His hair could be washed later.

"Sorry.  I was so tired." He slurred.

"I know kid.  Quatre.  Just lean forward and I'll do your back and then you're done ok?"  Quatre nodded and leaned forward into Duo's arm, held up for support.  His back was also free of scars.  Duo cleaned it thoroughly and let him slide back against the tub.  He picked up a limp hand and placed the rag in it.  "You just need to finish up eh?"

Quatre stared at his hand and gave a start.  "Oh."  He smiled, embarrassed again and washed his private bits before handing the rag back to Duo.

Draining the water out of the tub, Duo dabbed Quatre semi dry with a towel.  The pale boy enjoyed the air that cooled against his wet skin and helped his braided savior slip an old cotton shirt, soft with wear, over his head.  His mind felt a little less hazy.  He almost felt normal… though incredibly weak.  His throat was feeling much better as well.  Duo picked him up again and carried him back to the tiny cot.  Quatre waited in the chair as he changed the sheet.  Then with Duo's help, he moved gratefully back into the bed.  

"Thank you Duo."

Duo sat down in the chair and offered Quatre more broth.  He declined.

"I don't get you, Quatre."

"Why?" 

"Well, you don't act like a sex pet, so who are you?  Where are you from?"

Quatre stared at Duo as if he had grown a new head.

"I… I don't understand…" Quatre sputtered uncomfortably.  He assumed 'sex pet' meant the sex slaves that gang lords owned all over this colony.  He wasn't sure why they would think of him as one of those, but he also wasn't sure he wanted to reveal who he was yet.  Something deep down told Quatre that the people around him wouldn't take kindly to someone from outside the colony.  The security around the relief stations and the strict rules not to leave them was enough evidence of that.

"Wufei thinks you're a sex slave… but you're not from around here.  My guess is that you're from sector 10 with the Swedes.  Am I right?"

"I don't remember,"  Quatre tried.

"Yes you do."  Duo smiled at him.  "Don't lie.  I'm not going to send you back, or tell your owner or anything so you don't have to worry."

Quatre flushed and looked down, picking at his blanket.  What could he say?  How much could he tell this guy?  

"It's okay,"  Duo said.  "You don't have to tell me yet."

Quatre looked up.  "Duo."  There was a look of sympathetic understanding behind the braided boys eyes.

He smiled.  "Concentrate on getting better.  You can trust me.  You can tell me when you feel you're ready.  Just get some more sleep?"  

Quatre stared at him; nearly fell into a trance looking into the violet eyes, eyes that made you want to trust… almost.  "You too."  He murmured.

"That's where I'm heading."  Duo smiled.  "But I'm close.  You can call ok?"

Quatre let out a sigh of relief.  He was okay for at least a little while.  Duo seemed so nice, but something deep inside Quatre told him that he needed to be careful around the boy.  There were hidden angers in him.  

Instead he decided to assess his situation.  Now that he was finally awake and somewhat lucid, he had time to ponder upon what had happened to him.  Why had it happened?  Now that he looked back, why would his father kill him?  Or was it Rashid who wanted him dead?  But why?  Would he have a reason to kill him independently?  Quatre could easily believe his father ordering a murder… even that of his own son.  He knew his father didn't like him.  But kill him?  All he had seen in his fathers study was one minute email message.  There were other papers on the table, but Quatre hadn't really paid attention.  Could they have held something he wasn't supposed to see?

And how was he to get back home?  Quatre frowned.  He couldn't just waltz into one of the relief stations.  If someone found him alive, his father would be notified and Quatre doubted he would live much beyond that.  He could imagine the newzbits already.  "Winner boy found but dies mysteriously on return to civilization."  He snorted.  It would be no easy thing.  His best chance would most likely be to contact someone outside, but there were only communications facilities within the relief stations.  He fell asleep trying to imagine scenarios on getting in unseen.

Though it is hard to know morning from night on most parts of the colony, it is a bit more noticeable on the farm compound in the B sector of L2.  There are two farm compounds on any given colony.   They are giant covered stadiums that are complete biospheres in themselves.  Rather than being clear to let light in, they are covered and heated from within by giant lamps that produce near natural light.  They even simulate a daytime sky.  These are the only lights on L2 that turn off at night and simulate a starry sky.  Admittedly, some of the stars had gone out after generations of neglect, but it still serves as a peaceful retreat from the harsh reality of the colony.  

Heero Yuy and Trowa Barton oversaw the B sector compound.  The Germans in the F sector ran the other.  When Elijah Maxwell had arrived on L2, the B compound had been deserted.  When he had first come to L2, he had brought a wealth of equipment to take over this compound.   Only later had he left it in the capable hands of friends that he established the hostel beneath the sewers.  The compound was just too far away from the children who roamed the streets, which was Father Maxwell's concern.  It was always the children.

The compound contained a good deal of crops that helped to feed at least some of the colony.  It also contained a modest supply of animals.  There were chickens and ducks and rabbits and a few cats.  All were cultivated from embryos Father Maxwell had brought with him.   Dogs, cats and rats were all that were left of the animal life on L2 from before.  The rats were pretty much left to their own, but the dogs and cats served as food once in a while for the people who could catch them.  The cats in the compound were relatives of Father Maxwell's cat Piwacket, long since dead.   They kept the rats out of the compound and were much friendlier than the skittish animals outside.

As Wufei approached the compound on foot, he could see the various men who guarded the compound outside raise their rudimentary weapons in greeting.   Wufei raised his hand in reply as he neared the entrance.  He picked up the rather large mallet near the door and swung it full force into the metal door.  It didn't budge of course but the vibrations and the bang could be heard from the inside.  A minute later, the door was pushed open a crack.  Wufei stood in plain sight of the door and saw Heero Yuy's slender shirtless figure through the door.  A softer glare was all the greeting he got.

"Wufei."

"Heero."

The small Japanese boy set his shoulder against the door and with a grunt of effort, pushed it enough to let Wufei in.  After he was through, he helped push the heavy door shut again.  Wufei looked to see Trowa approaching as well.  His usual ponytail was out, causing his short hair to fall in front of his eyes.  Like Heero, he was drenched in moisture.  Wufei wrinkled his nose as the sweet smell of vegetation was interrupted by wafts of body odor coming from the two.  Trowa was quite a bit taller than the two oriental boys and though he didn't tower over Wufei as he approached and shook his hand, he did seem imposing.  Heero gave a brief nod and went back into the field.

"Your kids are hard workers," he said, pointing to the various children who could be seen among the corn and the potatoes.  All of them looked quite happy to toil away in the heat.  It wasn't like the heat outside.  It was more natural and fresh.  Wufei could make out the youngest girl running from the chickens and laughing as they chased the bucket of corn she carried.

"I came to see if you needed any more help."  Wufei said, looking at the artificial sun above.  Trowa opened a gallon of water and drank deeply, letting a little bit splash down his chest.  This effectively diverted Wufei's attention away from an artificial sky, though he tried to look uninterested.  Trowa shook his head.

"I don't think so."  He said seriously.  "Even though SSIP has taken some of our usual workers, a lot of them came back.  "It's good to have the extra help, but this should do.  How's the boy?"

Wufei pursed his lips.  "He's getting better, thanks to you."

Trowa smiled gently."I'm sure Duo hasn't left his side."

Wufei snorted.  "He fancies the boy."

"I see.  Then he doesn't know."

Wufei raised an eyebrow.  "Know what?"

"He's not from L2."  Trowa stated, starting toward the corner of the compound.  Wufei followed.

"How do you know?"

"His teeth are too healthy for one.   He has no fillings.  Besides, L2 doesn't have that kind of poison. I'm sure of it."

"Why didn't you tell Duo?"

Trowa stopped at a smaller corner garden filled with herbs.  He bent to pick some before he looked squarely at Wufei.

"You know how he feels about SSIP.  I'm sure he'll find out soon, but I didn't want his anger to cloud the issue and I didn't want it to interfere with the boy's recovery."  He took a small piece of cloth from his pocket and wrapped the herb in it, handing it to Wufei. 

"You're right."  He took the small package.   "He won't be happy.  What's this?"

"It's for you."  Trowa gave a quiet smile.  "You look like you could use some sleep."

Wufei scrutinized Trowa, not knowing what to say.    He pocketed the small gift.

"Thank you."

Trowa was quiet for a minute, staring at Wufei, using his hand to shade his eyes.  

"You should stay for lunch."

~~~~~~~

Duo awakened early, his "get everyone fed" instinct already kicking in as he rose from his small mat on the floor for the first time in a couple of days.   Wufei had already gone to Heero's to check on the older kids.  He shuffled over to the corner to grab his brush, already humming.  Duo was very much a morning person… even though L2 really had no official morning.   He let his hair out of the tie he had bound it in last night after washing.  He only washed his hair once or twice a week since the flow was sparse and they had twenty-one other bodies to wash.  

He brushed it out carefully with the broken handled brush he had been given years ago and braided it with practiced ease as he sauntered down the hall to check on Quatre.  He stopped as he heard a small noise in the quarantine room.  It was the distinct sound of a page turning.  He pushed the door open quietly and stared at his little blond invalid as he sat reading a book quietly in bed.  Suddenly, though he hadn't heard, Quatre squinted his eyes as if knowing something was wrong.  He looked up.

"Duo!"  Duo looked back at him coldly.  Quatre's eyes fell to his open book.  "Duo, I…I."  

"I see."  Duo said icily.  He shut the door and left a very disturbed Quatre behind.


	5. Chapter 5

Err. Hi guys? Anyone even still reading this? I know. I said I'm slow did I not? Motivation has been nigh impossible. Real life reared its ugly head in the way of a relationship and a mother in jail and all sorts of other drama. Given, life has been good, but it has really sapped my inspiration. I'm attempting to get back into it as I've had this thing like 80 done for freakin' ever.

So here's a new chapter and I apologize and I will be trying ever harder to complete my fics.

If you're all still here, you rock. If you're new, you still rock.

Forgotten 5

AU – 2x4

No real warnings but for the violence for now. Eventual lemon will be posted elsewhere.

It was well after noon when Wufei got back. He found a few of the older kids making lunch for the younger ones. One of them, a tall redhead named Jacob, was stirring a pot of soup. Canned vegetable, judging by the smell, probably from the stores they acquired from SSIP last week. He set his bags down at the door and quietly nodded at the few smaller children who ran to greet him. Jacob looked up and waved nonchalantly as the Chinese boy approached.

"I added water so everyone will get some."

Wufei nodded in approval and set a small container of potatoes and carrots on the counter. He was pleased with Jacob's contribution since he joined. Jacob was one of the boys who actually had parents. His father and mother were part of a community that owned, protected and ran the water plant.

"Good. Add these to the mix. Where's Duo?" Usually, they never left the kids to themselves for too long. Even with the older kids getting more responsible, there were too many to handle at once without discipline.

"He left. He looked pretty angry. He was in the Room. I'm not sure what happened though. He looked so upset I was afraid to ask." The boy looked at Wufei, worried. That was not surprising. The quarantine room usually did not bode well and without knowing, there was only one suspicion. That of death. Wufei ruffled his hair.

"Don't let it get to you. I'm sure everything is okay. The new patient was doing rather well so you don't have to think that."

"Then why was he so..."

Wufei adopted a stern look, commanding attention. Jacob went quiet and listened.

"Promise not to let this news travel to the other children."

Jacob nodded, obviously somewhat pleased that he was being let in on something important. He had certainly earned the privilege. Soon he would be helping them lead their small group on his own. Wufei sighed. "The patient is someone from outside the colony. "

Jacob's eyes widened. "He's not from here? And Duo took him in?"

"He didn't know. And even if he had, the boy was far to sick to leave."

"Oh." Jacob's eyes suddenly filled with understanding for their leader's anger, but there remained his curiosity about the stranger. "Do you think I could..." He eyed the Room and looked at Wufei, eyes questioning.

"Not yet." Wufei held up a hand. "He's still weak and he had the Orchid virus." Have you had it?

Jacob nodded eagerly. Wufei smiled. Jacob was young and brimming with curiosity. Stories of the outside would be undeniably appealing... a feast of the exotic for someone who was raised on L2 among gangs and poverty.

"Give him a day or so and ask Duo first. We have to take him back and sooner rather than later. Who knows what they'll do if they think we're holding him hostage."

Wufei slipped into the dark sewers to make his way to the quarantine room. Upon entering, he found the blond out of bed and on the floor. He was leaning against the wall. Sweat poured down his face and his eyes were closed in exhaustion, his breaths short and fast.

He looked up, hearing Wufei enter. Even in his weak state, he smiled up at the Chinese boy.

"You were here yesterday."

Wufei knelt down beside the blond.

"You shouldn't be out of bed."

"I was so thirsty."

Wufei picked him up, grunting a little with the effort. Even though the boy was thin, he was heavier than he seemed. Wufei had to remind himself that this boy hadn't known hunger. He was healthy, fed all his life with good food and probably knew little illness. He wasn't likely to be as light as the emaciated children they usually had as patients. Usually, anymore, their patients were new kids they had taken in. Duo always brought more in. He rarely turned anyone away. Many boys would run away from their gangs. If they were slaves, Duo would find them, collapsed in the street… or, if they were pets, buy them if he could somehow afford the trade. Others didn't live there, but rather, donated their time to helping the others.

Otherwise, with Trowa's help, he and Duo had managed to keep their own kids relatively healthy. Even though the blond kid was small, he was well-muscled. His ribs were showing a little from his recent sickness, but otherwise he was fine. If he hadn't been poisoned, he probably would have gotten over the Orchid virus much sooner. Holding the boy in his arms and looking down at him, Wufei realized once more how pretty this boy was. It was probably a good thing he didn't belong to someone, because if he had been a sex pet, they could have been in major trouble. He could see why Duo desired to keep him. Why he desired him.

But apparently, Duo had discovered the truth behind the matter. As nice as it might have seemed, Quatre wasn't a sex pet. He was from a world where people were allowed to have pride… where your greatest fear wasn't where your next meal was coming from. Instead of being grateful to Duo for saving him and becoming Duo's pet for protection, Quatre probably wanted off this colony as quickly as possible.

No doubt Duo was disappointed. Not only was he denied the fantasy, but as beautiful as this kid was, he was still an outsider. Duo hated the outsiders. Especially anyone from SSIP. Admittedly it was hard not to be bitter with someone from outside. When one is struggling just to survive it's very hard to be compassionate for someone who had all the opportunities a life in another colony would have.

As Wufei settled the boy back into bed, he noted the unhappy look on the boy's face.

"Are you in pain?"

Quatre shook his head. "I'm sorry to be so much trouble."

Wufei sighed. "What's your name again?"

"Quatre."

"Quatre, you're no more trouble than anyone else here."

Quatre looked at Wufei. Frankly, Wufei had been expecting the demure, shy, subordinate attitude of a sex pet, Quatre's confidence and poise definitely put him off. Wufei had that confidence… but it had been fought for, with blood and pain and viciousness. Quatre held no such light in his own eyes. He had been raised in a more gentle society, able to grow strong without being pushed down. He had probably never taken a life.

Yet, there was a sad look in the green eyes.

"But Duo was so angry." He looked up. "You are too. I can feel it."

Wufei's eyes widened at this. "You're an empath?"

Quatre nodded. "Does it scare you?" He asked quietly, "I can't read your mind, but I can feel strong emotions, so it's not like you have to hide."

The boy was right. Wufei didn't know exactly how to feel about that. It made him uncomfortable. Empaths were generally coveted and only allowed as pets or high ranking members of other gangs. They were used in negotiations to make sure that the other turf lord wasn't lying. However they were also feared and were the first target if a rival gang knew of their ability.

"Listen, Quatre. We know you're not from L2."

The blond nodded, his throat moving as he gulped. Wufei couldn't quite tell if it was from apprehension or from having a dry throat. He assumed the former.

Wufei sighed and rubbed his forehead thinking about what to say.

"Someone like you generates a lot of hatred among the people of L2. We fight for our very existence here and yet we are just a small distance from people who live a comparatively easy life and they seem not to see us or even care. It is hard not to be bitter toward you. Even if you are part of the group that is trying to help, you're the only focus we have for our frustration."

"I understand," Quatre said simply.

"Then please be patient with Duo." Wufei said, his coal eyes grounding Quatre. "He is a fair man, but he has deep angers. He has lost countless friends and entire families while people like you live oblivious... I mean that as a generalization." He added when Quatre moved to argue. "However you are safe. You were lucky to end up with us if you were going to be pulled off the street."

Quatre digested that for a bit and Wufei watched him pick at his cover fitfully.

"Thank you for everything you've done. Are you... have you told anyone that I'm here?"

"No."

Quatre couldn't help but sigh in relief.

"That's good... it could be dangerous."

Wufei scrutinized the boy.

"There's more to this than we know. Do you know who poisoned you?"

Quatre bit his lip and tried not to show his frustration and sadness. He had been hesitant to face the reality of what had happened to him, but Wufei's statement had brought it to clear and painful focus. It was not a dream that Rashid had poisoned him and left him on the street to die. Rashid had been one of those people that Quatre found difficulty sensing emotion from. Wufei was much like that as well and Quatre realized that without his empathy he was perhaps a horrible judge of character. Neither of these people seemed to be distrustful and yet Rashid, whom he had trusted and liked had tried to kill him. How was he to know that he wasn't in just as much danger here. He didn't know who to trust.

He shook his head and felt dizzy with exhaustion and sadness. He couldn't voice what he was feeling, so he merely tried a few times to speak before his throat tightened, denying him any voice for his feeling. He simply looked at the wall and said quietly "no."

Wufei sighed and stood up to leave. He didn't know quite how to deal with this emotion, but he was not indifferent to the blonde's pain and frustration.

"Take some time to gather yourself. Quatre. You are safe here. Once Duo has had some time to think, we will decide what to do. For now, try to rest. If you worry to much it will make your recovery go slowly."

"Thank you," the boy said quietly as Wufei left the room.

Winner sat in his office on L4 across from an older man with white hair. He was hawk-like in appearance. He shuffled through a sheaf of documents on the table as Winner watched. He smiled and looked up at the man.

"Excellent. It looks like the design is almost complete. We should be able to start mass producing any time."

"Within the month I think." Winner replied.

Tsuberov looked ecstatic. "And the gundanium?"

"I have your scientists working at a lab we set up already."

"Excellent. Then your payment will be transferred tomorrow.

"Then I assume you want the first shipment of weapons delivered immediately?"

Tsuberov sneered. "Sooner if possible. With enough weapons, the White Fang should be able to overpower Peacecraft and his sniveling liberals easily."

Winner nodded. "Just remember that I can only operate under a guise of total pacifism. If the alliance suspects that we have anything to do with you, you can kiss your weapons operation goodbye."

"Don't worry. The money has been laundered so many times, they won't have a clue. You're image is clean. But when the White Fang takes over, I assume you'll want a piece of the pie."

"Naturally." Winner took a drink. "However, I don't like risks. I'll wait until you're fully installed as the leader of the New EarthSphere."

Tsuberov stood to leave, packing the papers in a portfolio.

"Speaking of which, I heard your son died on L2. Was he one of those risks? He had close ties to Relena Peacecraft."

Winner's gaze hardened. "You know those people can be ruthless. They're practically savages on that colony."

"Truly a pity." Tsuberov droned. "We'll be in touch."


	6. Chapter 6

Title: The Forgotten

Authors: Caer

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Yaoi, violence, angst, language

Pairings: 2x4

Status: Work in progress (part 6)

Disclaimer: This is simply fanfiction. I don't own this anime and I'm not making any money. It's just for fun.

Quick Message Hey guys! Another Chapter in record time... for me that is. I'm kind of getting my butt organized on this thing. I know where I want to go with it, but don't have all the elements quite planned out yet. Anyway I hope that this part is enjoyable and I'm hoping my momentum keeps up. I've been writing quite a bit for me. Yaoicon helped to stir the ol' Gundam Wing Juices as well so that's good. This is not betad, so again if there are any glaring errors, please let me know. If anyone has interest in betaing this story, please get in touch. It could use it.

Please enjoy

Quatre woke to a sound he had become somewhat accustomed to in the last few days, though this was the first morning they were clear and made sense. They were the sounds of people waking up and starting the day. He could faintly hear dishes clinking and the sound of people talking and the smell of some sort of breakfast tickled his nose. For the first time in what seemed like forever, the idea of food was appealing to him. Stretching languidly, he realized it had been forever since he had moved that much. Carefully, he pushed himself up to a sitting position. Not too bad. He still felt a little shaky, but much better than the day before. Taking a breath, he pushed himself up. Trembling slightly, he grabbed a hold of the shelf. Closing his eyes against the dizzy spell, he took some deep breaths. However once the dizziness subsided he felt much better. He hobbled his way over to the table, where a pitcher of water and a bowl sat. He poured a tiny bit into the bowl and used it to wipe his eyes and face. Pouring himself a glass, he drank deeply. His throat was itchy now, as if it was healing.

Even though the water wasn't cool, Quatre could feel how much his body needed it. As soon as he drank a glass, he felt even better. He filled the glass again and drank deeply.

As he walked back to the bed and sat down gingerly, picking up the book he was reading before and crossed his legs underneath him. He wanted to leave, but this not being his room, he figured he should stay put until someone invited him out. He didn't want to cause any alarm or distraction, since there was obviously a large group outside.

Quatre wondered who this group was. The fact that many of the voices outside seemed to be children led him to believe that this was some kind of orphanage or shelter. For the most part, it seemed that if children were protected at all on this colony, it was in the houses of the more prominent families and gangs that ruled on L2. Even calling them a "gang" wasn't always accurate. There were quite a few large cohesive groups that owned territory in L2. Many of those that had grown larger, had done so because of their ability to organize and cultivate necessities. They often grew food, or owned and protected the water plants.

This didn't have the feel of some of the gangs that had visited the soup kitchens at SSIP. Yet it felt like a relatively peaceful group. He could sense that most were children and that they had the same feel as most on L2. However, there was something that felt a little more wholesome here. The malice was at a minimum if it could be called that. Large groups of emotions in this colony were hard to read, but Quatre got a general sense of community here.

He realized now that he was very lucky he had ended up with a group like this.

Sitting on the bed, now reading a new book, Quatre didn't have long to wait. A few pages later, the door opened.

"Duo!" Quatre smiled and put his book down. His smile soon died though as Duo's eyes were cold and hard.

"So, you're awake. Good."

Duo tossed his clothes at him. They looked like they had been washed, but they were definitely his own clothes. Quatre picked at them hesitantly. He wasn't sure how to deal with this coldness.

"Thank you," Quatre got out quietly. "Duo... I"

"You should get changed. If you can walk, we'll probably take you back to SSIP later when we come back."

Quatre's eyes grew wide. "No! I can't go back."

"Look kid, we have our own problems. If you're from outside, then you can just notify the police and let them take care of you. We have better things to do than babysit."

Generally a comment like that would have Quatre fighting back. However, he was far too disturbed at the thought of going back. He wasn't ready. He didn't even know who to go to or how.

"Duo, please... I... I can't go back. Not yet."

Duo hesitated as he looked at the panic in the blonde's eyes.

"We'll talk about it later, Quatre. But I don't have time or resources to look after some spoiled kid from the outside. We can barely feed the mouths we have here. You probably have a family on another colony don't you?"

Duo's eyes, flashed with hatred and Quatre almost felt a physical blow from the malice that harbored there.

"I... I have family, yes, but..."

"Good. So they can take care of you."

"Duo," Quatre tried one more time.

"It's not my problem, Quatre. If you couldn't tell, we've got problems of our own. We're taking you back. Don't leave this room. We'll be back shortly."

Quatre gasped and slumped as Duo left the room. Such turbulent emotions. Quatre felt drained. There was so much behind Duo's malice. It wasn't just hate. In fact there was very little hate. There was pain, and remembrance and something else that Quatre couldn't quite decipher. Duo was fighting inside himself with something.

However Quatre wasn't worried about that. He was terrified now. He was going to have to go back and face SSIP. He couldn't trust his father, the man who ran everything about SSIP. Who could he trust there? He was certain that most of the people who worked there were honest and would likely help him. But they had little recourse on L2. Communications were poor at best. Resources were entirely run by SSIP. Depending on how far his father's influence ran, he could just end up in the same situation that had gotten him here in the first place.

Quatre lay down to rest for a bit. His mind was churning now. What should he do?

* * *

"I can't believe I was so stupid! Why didn't I see it? It was so obvious. He was too clean. His stuff was too nice. How could he possibly be one of us?"

Wufei for his part, kept calm and watched the streets diligently. This was when his friend was at his most vulnerable, when he was angered and not paying attention. It was how they had met. Duo had been livid at one of their kids for accepting drugs from one of the gangs. The kid had in fact, been trying to sell the drugs to Wufei. With a little interrogation, he had discovered that the boy had wanted to get money for his "family"... a family that had turned out to be Duo and what was left of the Maxwell Refuge.

While Duo had been soundly scolding the boy, they had been attacked by slicers.

Slicers were an unhinged segment of the population. They generally traveled in gangs, or were subsets of regular gangs, dealing in drugs and assassination and human trafficking. They were called slicers, however, because they were much like pirates or highwaymen. They attacked at random and used the confusion to kidnap potential pets, or kill other gang leaders. Usually this was being done for food or other commodities.

They were also highly unstable. Even though it had been generations since the colony had degenerated from a prison colony, to a world without rule, the drugs that had been tested on the earlier prisoners had led to some rather unforeseen side effects. Drugs that had been used for depression, anxiety and other mental ailments had caused some serious birth defects for the following generations. One drug in particular, that had been created to subdue especially violent killers, had never been tested long term. Since most of those prisoners were never meant to leave the colony, it had not been considered a risk at the time. No one had expected the prisoners to actually procreate.

The drug had been called abeopax in its first incarnation or something similar. It had been used in a milder form for teens with anxiety and depression. However, a large percentage of the teens had snapped after building up drug toxicity, becoming violent, some committing awful crimes. The drug seemed to stimulate a fetish for blood, before only seen in a rare few in the population naturally.

The drug had been banned among the rest of the population but was still being used on prisoners. When L2 had been abandoned and the prisoners had begun to have children, some were being born with this disconnection between the rest of the world and themselves, making them effective killers. They had a fascination with blood and a loyalty to no one. They killed for food, or sex, or just for fun.

Slicers attacked without warning and they were especially dangerous because they had little concern for their own safety or that of their companions. Though Wufei was the first to see them and and had quickly dispatched 2 or 3, Duo had literally saved his life. He had been glanced in the side by a rather brutal knifing and Duo had then taken him back to recover. Since then, they had been friends in a sort of mutual debt. Of course.

"Because you didn't want to see it." He replied calmly, resisting his desire to watch the boy emanate energy. When Duo was worked up, you could literally see the yang energy dripping off of him. Perhaps it was what made them such good friends. Wufei balanced him out.

They made their way toward Trowa and Heero's greenhouse to pick up those they had sent to help with the harvesting.

"Dammit Wufei! I should have known."

"Does it make a difference?"

"He's not one of us. He's part of SSIP." Duo spat the word. "He's just another one of those damn... he just needs to go back."

Wufei sighed, flexing his hands as he tried to open his senses to the atmosphere around them. It was risky to travel during the day on the streets.

"Are you sure that's wise? Someone made an attempt on his life."

"Not my problem." Duo said angrily, clenching his fists.

"You don't want to deal with the fact that you're attracted to him."

Duo stopped, hanging his head and sighing. He hated it when Wufei pointed out the obvious. "It could never work anyway. He wouldn't want to stay here."

Duo sounded so dejected. He had really fallen for this boy, but they had known him for such a short time.

"I understand. But do you really want to take him back when his life could be in danger?"

"Oh come on, Wufei. Whoever tried to kill him wouldn't dare if we took him back in front of everyone at SSIP."

"For a man who despises and suspects SSIP to the degrees you do, you seem very sure of their honesty." Wufei said quietly. "We don't know who tried to kill him. We don't know how big the organization is that targeted him. What if we deliver him right back into the hands of his murderers?"

Duo stopped, putting a hand to his eyes. "Fuck!" He turned and hit the wall, grimacing as the pain traveled up his arm. He could almost see Wufei's raised brow at the useless outburst.

"I don't want him around Wufei." He looked up. "But I don't want to get him killed."

"Perhaps Trowa and Heero could watch him for now."

"Yeah," Duo agreed, though he bit his lip in consternation. "As long as I don't have to put up with the brat."

* * *

Trowa made a herculean effort not to hit the equipment as he tried to pick up on the news feeds. However as the snow got progressively worse, he gave in and gave the monitor a good hard smack on the top. It cleared up a small amount.

To his chagrin, Heero had walked in just as he did it. Heero threw a pair of dirty rubber gloves in the box beside them.

"You know, hitting it doesn't help."

"That's funny, Heero, because the snow went away when I did."

"Hn. Coincidence." Heero sat down. "Anything good?"

"That depends. It turns out Duo's pickup is a pretty important person."

Heero focused on the screen as Trowa turned the volume up. A picture of Randolph Winner, owner of SSIP was on the screen. His speech could not be heard, but the news anchor could be heard.

"and just two days ago, Randolph Winner announced the probable death of his youngest son." A picture of the blond boy appeared briefly.

"That's him?"

"Yeah." Trowa said carefully. "This could be trouble for us."

"... at this point, the authorities have no information to go on. Terrorism is being considered, but it's hard to tell. Most of the bodies here are fed directly into incinerators. Even local gang murderers leave little evidence. However the death could possibly be tied to some of the service droids that malfunctioned. His son was sent out to help repair them. We think that's when he disappeared."

"That could be a problem. Do you think his father did it?"

"Hard to say," Trowa replied. "But if he did, we could have trouble. Duo doesn't know yet that the boy is from outside. When he finds out, he'll want to give him back."

"We'll have to tell him. He has to hand the kid back in public. We don't want any misunderstandings."

"Yeah," Trowa frowned. He didn't like the idea of handing the boy back without knowing what was going on.

A beep from the console, drew their attention and Heero and Trowa looked at each other, eyebrows raised. There was only one of a few people it could be. Trowa opened the channel and they both started.

"Bossa!"

The dark haired man stared back at them, grinning. He had a strong face and long dark hair, that he wore tied back but for the two locks that hung down to either jawline. He was the leader of the German gang. He was one of the more powerful gang lords in L2.

"Well! I get both of you, even. Lucky me. Harvest must be over."

"What do you need?" Heero asked curtly. Though Bossa was a prominent gang leader now, they had had some run ins with him earlier when he had tried to move in on their silo. He was a powerful man on L2, but he was also a manipulator and a user. However he honored his agreements and for the most part, helped to keep order in their area of the colony.

"I'll keep it short. I need to talk with you and Maxwell as well. SSIP has cut off our water supply. We need it back."

Heero nodded. He and Duo had the most experience in acquiring water from any of the eighteen water plants on the colony. They had actually been able to get running water to most of the sectors on the colony at one point or another. It was a major source of leverage among the rival gangs, besides their ability to produce food.

"He won't like it. Run ins with SSIP might be equated with terrorism. That's not Duo's thing." Trowa said blandly.

"We're willing to bargain. We need the water. You and Duo know how to get it. How soon can we meet?"

"Duo should be here any minute. We'll tell him. When and where?"

Bossa grinned. "Before the six o clock, in the big train station in his territory. Can we count on you?"

Heero nodded. "Well be there. No weapons. Only four of you."

"Four?" Bossa frowned. "That seems unfair."

"Four of us, four of you. It's our territory."

"Of course. Give Duo my regards." Bossa grinned. He had pursued the violet eyed boy on more than one occasion. Duo had always given him the cold shoulder, but it didn't stop the man from trying. He was very powerful. He considered Duo a worthy adversary, as well as a viable partner. If they did a little extra on the side, that was Bossa's preference. However, he couldn't touch Duo and he knew it. But it didn't stop him from teasing.

Heero leaned back. "Duo won't be happy."

"Even Duo won't deny the Germans water. That would be stupid." Trowa countered. "But we'll have to keep an eye on him. I don't like that guy."

* * *

Randolph Winner took a drink of hard whiskey, looking out the window of his space plane. He had been in conferences since six this morning, talking about his son's tragic disappearance. He had quickly been able to quell the Earthsphere alliance from sending in guard units yet. Arguing against violence, he had assured the people that he was in contact with the various factions and was holding peace talks. He cautioned that the use of force could set off one of the groups and facilitate more violence in the colony instead of less. Using his son's death to it's full potential, he had pushed for peaceful means of quelling the violence instead of a violent reaction. Fortunately, he was an influential voice in the organization. No one wanted another war, nor did they have the means yet to send in a police force. Eventually that could happen, but by then, Winner hoped to have Tsuberov fully established as the new power.

For now, he had to play the peace card to keep groups like the Peacecrafts looking too closely at his business.

A beep on his wall comm alerted him to an incoming message. Smoothing down his hair, he schooled his features to effect his recent loss. He had been fronting calls like this all day. However as he viewed the ID of the incoming message, he frowned and seriously considered ignoring it.

However, he hated leaving open ends and he knew this would come at some point. Flipping on the channel, he addressed his caller.

"Ms Relena. I appreciate your call perhaps more than anyone else."

The girl looked calm, however if Winner looked hard, he could see the lines under her eyes and the redness that indicated she had been crying. After all, Quatre and she had been good friends. He could definitely understand Tsuberov's worry since now that the peace treaties had been signed, she had powerful influence.

"I had hoped beyond all hopes that it wasn't true. I can't imagine the loss you must be feeling."

"Yes. He was my youngest. He was my only boy. I didn't know him well. Now I suppose I never will."

Relena nodded, eyes watering only a little bit.

"I hope that you don't mind. I would like to send some of my Preventors to look into the situation. Some groups are demanding an inquest."

"Of course. Some of my other daughters are asking the same. Though I doubt it's possible, they are hoping we may find a body. But I have little hope." He put a hand against his head, feigning a headache.

"Do you have any idea who it might have been?" Relena asked pleadingly.

"Our best lead is still the group that hijacked the service robots. If we can trace the group, we'll ask questions. I'll let you interrogate them yourself. Please feel free to send any officers you see fit. You will have my full cooperation."

Relena nodded and reached for the com.

"I'll be sending someone soon. I'm also sending someone to negotiate if it turns out he's alive. I think we have a lot to offer the people of L2."

"I definitely appreciate that. I'll be seeing you soon, I hope."

The com clicked off and Winner thumbed his glass absently. He knew Tsuberov wouldn't like her getting involved, but there was hardly a choice at this point. He would have to be careful. Too much interference could expose their operation. However, if he denied them access, they could launch a full investigation.

Another thought started churning in his head too. He had sent Rashid to do the job and Rashid had assured him that it was carried out. However he was now wondering if that was wise. The only proof he had was from the limo's cameras at the time. Was it possible that Quatre could survive?

That was a possibility that could spell disaster. He opened the com again.

"Mueller. Head back to L2. I need to meet the Peacecraft Delegates. I need you to order some goodwill gifts as well."

"Understood. I'll turn the ship now."

Winner took another drink. He had to be sure. He couldn't afford any risks right now.

* * *

Quatre gasped as he rested his shoulder against the wall. He had managed to sneak out of the room without anyone noticing him and now he was making his way through the sewer, away from the place he had been for days on end now. Fortunately the room was so far away from the others that he just had to make sure no one was looking.

Unfortunately, he was still in no shape to move quickly. His legs were still shaky and though he had felt relatively well in that little room, he had not moved for days. However the more he had thought about it, the more it seemed he couldn't risk just being handed back to SSIP. He could still sneak back in and use the com lines to find someone he could trust.

He thought about proposing this to Duo, but the way the boy had acted, he doubted he would agree. There was too much emotion behind his desire to take Quatre back. Not only that, but Quatre feared putting Duo and his small group in danger. They last thing they needed was SSIP going after them to make a political point. L2 was already viewed as nothing but criminals and potential terrorists. It would be easy to paint a certain group as "violent and unethical" in order to justify an attack. Quatre had a feeling that a lot more was at stake than he realized with SSIP. Otherwise, why would his father resort to having him killed?

So he pushed on, realizing that the best thing would be for him to go at this alone. At least if they tried for his life again, Duo wouldn't be targeted. After all, if they knew of Duo's involvement, it wouldn't be a far stretch for them to think that Quatre "leaked" information to them. With the lack of communication on L2 for anyone not related to SSIP, Duo wouldn't even be able to call for help before someone could take out his whole group.

As much as Quatre wanted to believe that his father wouldn't target children, he had to be realistic. Quatre always wanted to see the good in people. But it was time to grow up. The reason there had been catastrophic wars to begin with was due to human nature. Quatre frowned. He wanted to believe in people. He wanted to believe that most people were good. However even Duo and Wufei, who seemingly watched over children had hidden darkness. The hatred emanating from Duo was proof of that. Even Duo could sell him out for the right price. He wasn't sure if he was right, or if maybe he was too fatigued by betrayal, but he didn't feel he could trust anyone right now.

So Quatre moved on slowly, stopping to rest as he went. Unfortunately he had no idea where to go down here, but he figured eventually he would find a way to the surface, and then he could make his way back.

As he made his way through the underground tunnels, he could see the degradation of the walls around him. No one had been here to maintain anything on L2. The current residents certainly didn't know how to take care of things like this, nor would they have the materials. There were places where the light leaked in, revealing the street above. However, none of the openings were large enough or low enough for Quatre to crawl out of.

He wondered into a large train station, where the trains would run for the colonies. This was obviously the main artery, though Quatre doubted the trains ran anymore. There were usually five large tracks that would circle the colony. Other smaller trains or buses would run from point stations. This must have been one of the bus depots back when the colony was fully functioning.

The arches were huge above him and the echo was agonizing when one was trying to be quiet. Quatre could almost hear his rapid heartbeat in the large cavern. He had only ever been inside one of these places when they were busy and running. This place was dead. The silence was oppressive. Quatre stayed to the walls of the cavern and slowly made his way around toward the other side. There had to be stairs at the other end, where people could enter from the street and embark.

His breath was short, however and his legs threatened to give out on him. Sliding down the wall, he allowed himself to catch his breath. He was already exhausted. He figured he would have to find someplace to sleep before he could make his way back toward SSIP. For now, he swallowed and concentrated on catching his breath without making too much noise, however he could here his gasps bouncing off the wall all the way across the empty railway.

After a few breaths he decided he needed to get going. Using the wall, he slowly stood up. His legs were just a little shaky now. Actually moving around had been beneficial. Now that he had warmed his muscles up, he felt a bit less stiff. Starting out had been the most difficult part.

Shakily, but determined, he made his way up to the street.

Though he was looking down, exerting all his effort, he was able to see the shadow moving toward his feet. Gasping and looking up, he could make figures out, blocking the light. Turning quickly, he almost fell slipping down the stairs and around to hide under the escalator. Judging by the voices, no one had seen him yet. He pressed himself into the shadow of the escalator, trying to make himself small as possible. Once again, he cursed the vastness of this hall and held his breath, trying to not make a noise.

The voices were in another language. As far as Quatre could tell, it was German, but he hadn't had enough in school to allow him to follow. Besides that, the accents were strange. He tried to listen for words, but he could only catch the occasional "yes" and "station" and possibly "meet".

He gave up on listening and hid his mouth in his knees, trying to be quiet. He only looked down for a moment, but when he looked up, he came face to face with the grinning face of a bald wiry man with tattoos under his eyes. His teeth were brown and stained as he smiled.

"Looky looky at what I found!" He said in broken English. Quatre rose quickly, banging his head on the stairs above before turning, hand on his injured head to run. However, he almost impaled himself on a small knife as he looked up to see a rather handsome dark haired man with pale features grinning down at him.

"We've found a pretty one this time. He laughed, sheathing his knife. Quatre dodged sideways and tried to run, but a strong hand closed around his arm and he was yanked back into the man's chest. A hand wrapped around his waist and a voice whispered in his ear.

"Don't even try it, leipshin. You wouldn't make it five yards."

* * *

Wufei ran back down the corridor he had come from. He was set to meet Duo if he checked five tunnels and couldn't find anything. Duo had nearly had a conniption when they returned from Heero and Trowa's to find Quatre's bed empty. The other children were warned to keep away from the quarantine room so none had been near. This was a problem in several ways. There was the danger of Quatre being out alone, but there was also the chance that if he was found by the right group, he could lead them back to Duo's refuge. It was terrible to thing, but better Quatre be found and murdered by Slicers than found by a rival gang.

He slid into the passageway, spinning around to make sure there was no one around. Soon he heard footsteps from down the other corridor. He pulled a knife and prepared for a fight just in case.

Fortunately, it was Duo. His purple eyes flashed in the light that leaked in through the roof.

"Did you find him?"

"I found traces of him. He tore a piece of his vest on the exposed metal down the south corridor. But there's no sign of him. Either he made it up to the surface, or..."

"Shit! We've gotta find him Wufei!"

The worry in Duo's eyes was enough to worry Wufei as well.

"Calm down, Duo. He can't have gotten far. We'll keep looking. However, we need to make our meeting. It won't go well if the Germans think we stood them up."

"Right. Dammit!" Duo took a breath and brushed himself off, cursing again under his breath. "I shouldn't have told him we were taking him home."

"No, you shouldn't have." Wufei put a hand on his friends shoulder. "However you've never been clear headed when it comes to people you care about."

"I don't care about that spoiled brat. I just don't want to be responsible if something happens to him." Duo said with a cold certainty.

"Of course," Wufei said acidly. "I'm sure that's exactly it."

"Wufei, you're an asshole," Duo replied quietly. "Let's go."

Wufei smirked and followed.

* * *

At the train station, Bossa was already waiting. Duo and Wufei approached cautiously. There were ten of them. It was hard to conceal people in these tunnels, but Wufei jumped down and made sure no one was down in the tracks or in the tunnels. Once they had confirmed that no one was in hiding, Duo approached. Bossa raised an amused eyebrow. He was armed with a single fighting stick, which he had slung over his shoulder rakishly.

"You don't trust me, comrade?"

Duo glared. "You brought more than agreed to. And I thought we agreed no weapons."

"What?" He shrugged. "I expected you to do the same." He eyed Duo's black clad body a little to intimately. "You can not tell me that you don't have at least 2 weapons on you right now. Of course. I would love to check you over." He laughed as Duo glared and flipped out his closed knife to show the man. " I thought so. You should be honored that I brought so many to deal with just the two of you. It's a compliment. Besides. I didn't come to fight. Look. I bring a goodwill gift."

There was some jostling and Duo and Wufei's eyes widened as Quatre was thrust forward.

"Quatre!"

The blond looked down, red with shame. A few of the men around him laughed. Bossa chuckled.

"So he is yours eh? I wasn't sure. I've never known you to have a pet." Bossa eyed him suspiciously. " You don't keep them very well. This one needs a collar."

Duo stepped forward only to be blocked by two of Bossa's men. He tensed, ready for a fight. Wufei took a step back to base himself a little better.

Duo stilled and smiled. "You're right. I've never had a pet before. But I figure someone of my status is a fool not to. He's new, so he doesn't know how to behave." Duo ignored Quatre's gasp. "I suppose I am in your debt for finding him."

"A shame." Quatre flinched as Bossa's stick trailed up between his legs. "I would have liked to keep this one. Unmarked? You must have paid a pretty price for him." He wrapped the stick around Quatre's neck, pulling the boy up by his jaw. "I would have liked to teach him a few things. Perhaps I could bring him back to you with a little training eh?"

Quatre gulped as a large hand brushed casually over his nipple, the pad of the index finger rubbing across it. Quatre resisted fighting back. Based on Duo's look and on the emotions emanating from the braided boy, now was not the time to be feisty, or to pretend he was anything more than a pet. Doing his best to play a part, he gasped and stared at Duo.

"Master. Please. I... I'm sorry I ran away. Please forgive me." It seemed rather pathetic to him, patently false, but the fact that the dark haired man's hand was brushing over his hip, making his voice rise, probably helped. He could feel Duo's ire rise at his distress.

Bossa laughed. Pushing Quatre forward into Duo's arms. Duo kept his eyes on the group in front of them, but he glared as he could feel Quatre's body tremble. He was warm again too. Duo steadied the blond and then leaned close to his ear.

"Go sit down and shut up. Don't do anything to raise this guy."

Quatre did as he was told and walked behind Wufei to sit down against the wall. He was way out of his league and he knew it. He would only cause trouble if he tried anything right now. He briefly thought about sneaking away, but his energy was about gone. He didn't want to cause Duo any more trouble.

"What is this all about, Bossa?"

Bossa's eyes followed the blond as he moved to sit down. They snapped back when Duo spoke.

"Nothing new. SSIP has cut off the water to part of our territory. We thought about taking some of their workers and holding them hostage, but I know you don't like that sort of thing. Since you and Heero are the ones who know the water systems, we figured you could find an alternative."

"You know, if we start resorting to terrorist acts we'll give them every reason to slaughter us. Do you want what happened to Fox's gang to happen to you?"

"That's why I came to you, my friend. Besides, that territory has a lot of children." Bossa looked at Duo directly. One reason Duo kept relations with the German open, was because for all his back handedness and perversion, Bossa truly cared about children. He passed it off as the need to keep a high population of loyal citizens, but it was unmistakable. Children never were touched in his world.

"Do you think you have a solution?"

"The water's probably been shut off at the main plant."

Ten men looked around, cursing violently as a new voice filled the tunnel. A wiry Japanese boy dexterously leapt up from down in the tracks, vaulting himself onto the platform easily. Quatre gasped. When Wufei had checked the area, he must have known that this new boy was there. He had been waiting for them to make a move.

"Heero." Bossa greeted the man cordially. Heero nodded in return. "I thought you weren't coming."

"And I thought you were only going to bring three people. Looks like we're both liars."

Bossa looked at one of his men and gestured toward the tracks. The man went and inspected the tunnels to each side. Turning, he shook his head. No one else was there. Bossa turned back.

"We're willing to offer something good if you can guarantee a free flow of water to that quadrant. Whatever means you wish to take is fine with me."

"So what are you offering," Duo asked.

"I can offer you protection." Bossa replied. "Until we had ensured the South side, I was not willing to put you in the position again of the old Maxwell church.

Quatre could feel a very real stab of pain from the dark boy. He could barely see the tension in Duo's hands, though he held his emotions in check. Quatre racked his brain for some piece of history on the Maxwell church. The name was familiar, but he couldn't place it.

"We have a building for you. It's an old hospital. It's clean and secure. There's even running water if you can get the water back to that section. It's well protected. You could get your children out of this god awful sewer and back into a real home. I would also ask you to start a school for some of the younger children. Now that many of their parents are working for SSIP, they have nowhere to go. If we offer that to other quadrants, we can ensure that we are unlikely to be attacked."

It was quite an offer. However Duo frowned.

"I don't like supporting SSIP in any way. That includes the traitors who work for them."

"I would agree, my friend. Especially since they're starting to manufacture weapons."

Quatre gasped and Duo's head snapped up. "Fuck, are you sure?"

"I've seen the plant myself." Bossa growled quietly. "If we don't let our people in on that market before the other sectors, they will easily pick us off. Besides. SSIP offers food and hospitals to the people working for them. Some of them have no choice."

Quatre sank back. No! This couldn't be true. After all the wars, there had been a general ban on weapons in any of the colonies. It would be one thing to produce personal weapons. Quatre had a feeling it was bigger than that. Gundanium could only be produced in space. This was also a perfect place to hide a large operation. His father was involved in something a lot more sinister than simple slave labor. One way or another, Quatre had to tell someone.

"Your offer is tempting. But I need Heero to pull this off. What can you offer them?"

Bossa yelled out a name and something in German. One of the men came forward with a small case. Opening it, he showed it to Heero.

"New Power cells for your operations. I know the ones you have now are barely held together. We acquired them from SSIP through one of our workers there."

Heero nodded to Duo. "It's a good deal. It's up to you, Duo."

Duo hesitated. he was worried about moving the kids. Though they were well hidden in the sewers, it was barely a safe haven. Since the Maxwell fire, Duo had been loath to put his faith in any other group. But the sickness that plagued the children was tangible. It was an unhealthy place. Plus with the dilapidated state of the structure, it was even more dangerous. One good collapse could get some of the children killed. The buildings above were much sturdier.

Duo nodded slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, we'll do it. You're offering a lot. You understand, its suspicious."

Bossa's eyes narrowed. "I keep my word, you know that. But I'm a little bit desperate. Some of the families are already getting sick. Without water, they can't even wash their food there. My family is also in that quadrant."

"All right." Duo agreed. "Well see about getting the water back there for now. We can talk later about your other offer later. Heero?"

Heero nodded. "Yeah. I think we can do it."

Bossa nodded and moved forward, offering his hand to Duo. The boys shook hands just as a train rolled into the station. Quatre was shocked. A train actually ran through here? He could hardly believe it. Bossa and his group headed toward the train. Apparently they were going to make their way back to their territory by train. However though Quatre couldn't see anyone on the train, he could feel a dark presence that he had only vaguely felt a few times before. Standing up quickly he shouted out.

"Wait! Don't get any closer!"

The men looked back in alarm and suddenly Duo yelled out as heads appeared in the broken windows of the train.

"Slicers!"

Quickly, there were about 15 men jumping from the windows of the car and even from the roof of the train, swarming out the door. They were heavily armed as they attacked the men. Duo and Wufei were like wild things. They fought quickly, dispatching a few at a time. Bossa and his crew were no slouches either. Suddenly, a lithe figure flipped down from above the tracks. A tall boy with light brown hair and a chain whip dispatched two of the slicers from behind as Quatre watched.

"Another one Duo? I'm insulted!" Bossa yelled as he blocked an incoming knife with his stick and quickly beat the slicer back.

"You can't be too careful!" Duo replied.

Quatre stood back and moved along the wall, wondering if he could escape in the confusion. He was fascinated though. He had never seen Slicers in person, or a real fight for that matter. The speed at which they were all moving was amazing. It was a lot more raw and violent than he had imagined. He was also hesitant to leave again and escape on his own, but he had to warn someone as soon as possible too.

Unfortunately the decision was made for him as five more thugs appeared in his path from the other embarking point. The knife flashed quickly with a speed Quatre almost wasn't ready for. He quickly dodged the blade and trapped the mans arm, taking a leg out from under him, he dropped the man hard, while kicking another of the men solidly in the gut. Whirling around he slid into a fourth man's legs. He heard something crack and he was relatively sure he had broken something. A hand spun him around and a knife was held to his neck.

"Such a feisty creature. It's gonna be fun making you bleed." Quatre could smell the rank breath of his captor as his neck was licked. The man didn't see Quatre's hands as he slipped them around his wrist. Suddenly going limp, Quatre became dead weight to the man before leaning quickly and dropping his weight.

Without warning, the man was flying over Quatre's hip, his wrist being violently twisted as his joints locked up. He screamed in pain as his arm tore under his own weight.

Quatre easily took the knife and held it out as the last man advanced on him.

"You're going to regret that beautiful."

Quatre stumbled as he backed up, moving away from the men who were trying to recover. An hand grasped his ankle and he looked to see the first man wrapping his arms around Quatre's legs, causing him to fall. He twisted around, as the standing man went in for the kill, but a flash of black was all he saw as Duo plowed into the man in a cold fury. Quickly, as soon as he was able to pull one leg free, Quatre delivered a powerful kick to the face of the man who had grabbed his leg. Looking up to find Duo and his opponent Quatre gasped when he saw a bloody knife, the man's own, sticking through his attacker's back. It was twisted brutally in his gut. He fell, into Duo, but the boy yanked the knife back out. the man convulsed and was still. Duo turned on him, his gaze frightening and Quatre couldn't help but shrink back. Hands hauled him up from behind and he knew it was Wufei though he didn't look back. He was still staring at the dead man on the floor

"The rest ran off." Trowa said, approaching them.

"Is anyone hurt?" Duo yelled, his eyes assessing Bossa's group. A few cuts and scratches seemed to be the most damage.

"Nein. We were lucky this time. Duo. We're leaving. You should do the same before they come back with more. We'll be in touch. When the water is back we'll discuss your group."

"Get the hell out of here. We'll clean up the mess."

"Bossa nodded and turned, disappearing back up the escalator and onto the streets. Their footsteps receded and Duo turned to Quatre, who was still in a little shock. Staring down at the body. The rest had run off after Duo's attack.

"He's dead."

"No kidding!"

Duo retorted sarcastically with a hard look in his eye. He advanced on Quatre. Shaking out of his shock, Quatre cringed and jerked away, backing against the wall as Duo pursued him. Duo grabbed him by the shoulders roughly. Quatre's eyes watered in frustration. His exhaustion and shock was tangible.

"Don't take me back. Please, Duo, I can't... I..."

Duo held Quatre's chin, examining the cut on his cheek and checking for any other wounds. There was a shallow cut on the blonde's collarbone from where the knife had grazed him but he seemed unhurt otherwise. Frankly, Duo was amazed that the boy had fought so well. However it seemed this had been his first experience in a real fight. He was pale and shaky. Duo couldn't ignore the look of desperation in his eyes. He had been through a lot today. Duo rubbed a warm thumb down Quatre's chin, forcing the boy to look at him.

"We won't take you back yet, don't worry." He said gently. "I was hasty in my decision," he admitted. "We won't even talk about it until you're better."

"Quatre nodded shakily, his body subtly relaxing in relief, though his eyes were still riveted on the dead man who's blood now was dripping onto the empty tracks.

"Wufei, take him home. I'll clean up here."

"Hurry it up Duo. We can't stay here too long." Heero said, already hefting a body over his shoulder.

"Yeah I know. Just... get him out of here." He said to Wufei.

Wufei sighed and grabbed the shaken boy by the sleeve.

"This way. Watch your feet."

Duo watched them disappear down the corridor and then turned to take care of the three bodies left in the huge hall. The less talk there was of this incident the better. But Duo wondered if someone hadn't known about the meeting. Slicers were everywhere, but it was terribly convenient that they happened to crash the meeting of two major powers on L2.


	7. The Forgotten 7

Title: The Forgotten

Authors: Caer

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Yaoi, violence, angst, language

Pairings: 2x4

Status: Work in progress (part 7)

Disclaimer: This is simply fanfiction. I don't own this anime and I'm not making any money. It's just for fun.

And again. Yay! Hope you like this part. I want you guys to know that I always appreciate all of the encouragement you give me. Thanks very much.

Also thank you to the lovely Kitsune-001for her work to beta and clean up this fic. I appreciate it more than I can say.

* * *

After being given a bed in one of the side tunnels, Quatre lay wide awake in his bed in the dark. He had tried to go to sleep, to get the images out of his head, of slicers and gangs and death. However, every time he closed his eyes, he was assailed by nightmares of that man's blood spilling. Quatre knew the man had been a slicer. He knew that the man had no morals or scruples and that he would have gutted Quatre in an instant with no remorse. However, that didn't change the fact that the man was a human being. Who wasn't to blame for the way he was born and he had been young. His ice blue eyes burned into Quatre's mind, as did the image of the blood that trailed from his mouth as he trembled into death, Duo's knife through his gut. It was all too disturbing. After hours of tossing and turning with brief and fitful segments of sleep, Quatre had simply lain awake, trying to digest those thoughts and images in some way as to make them seem not so horrible.

It didn't work. He was relieved, when a light finally clicked on down the corridor. He could hear someone moving about and instead of lying there and listening, he decided that he would rather have the company of someone else to take his mind off of his disturbed thoughts.

As he blearily wondered toward the light, he could see that the room he was headed for was some kind of kitchen area. It was quite large and clean, with a small sink and numerous counters. At one counter, a boy not much older than him was pouring a cup of what looked and smelled to be coffee. Quatre wrinkled his nose. It didn't smell too good, but he would gladly drink anything warm right now, even if it tasted rank.

The boy turned, and Quatre could see that it was the brown haired boy from the night before... the one who had leaped down from above the tracks. The boy smiled faintly.

"You're awake. You should still be resting."

"I couldn't sleep," Quatre said quietly, matching the boy's volume. Though Quatre had seen him beat and perhaps kill several of the slicers the other day, this boy seemed exceedingly gentle. He felt gentle too, calming, like the sea when the tide turned in the morning and began to lap its way up the shore. It was like salve on Quatre's own jagged nerves.

The boy approached, reaching out a hand to feel Quatre's forehead.

"You still have a little fever. Here." Trowa removed his jacket and handed it to Quatre. Quatre made to refuse, but Trowa wrapped the coat around his shoulders anyway. "You need to sweat and get the rest of that fever out."

Quatre regarded the boy for a moment. He remembered this presence and this feeling. "You... you were there when I was sick?"

Trowa nodded. "You are an empath. I wondered how you knew the slicers were there."

Quatre shuddered, remembering the feelings of the day before. Trowa looked sympathetic.

"You've never seen things like that have you?"

Quatre shook his head 'no'.

"It's not always like that, Quatre. But we can't show mercy to Slicers, or they'll come back."

"I know," Quatre replied softly. Bitterly, he added, "I must seem pretty pathetic to you and Duo and the others."

Trowa handed him a cup of coffee and offered a gentle half smile.

"I'm glad that there are people out there that don't have to live such a life. It means there's hope. Duo's a little different. He's distrustful of outsiders. He was betrayed by outsiders. Have you ever heard of the Maxwell Church?"

"No," Quatre said. "I remember hearing something about it. But I don't know what happened."

"Father Maxwell came to L2 as a missionary. He had funding and built a church. He raised a lot of us, including Duo. Duo was his first Orphan. Even though Duo caused the most trouble, he also brought the most kids in off the street. He kept them there when they wanted to run away. Father Maxwell showed them all how to grow food and how to take care of themselves and even read. He even built alliances with the groups around L2. His hope was to make the colony into a good place to live again. But a larger group came in, with money. They said they wanted to help, but after he had let them in, he found that they were corrupt, using the money and giving very little to the people."

Quatre nodded sadly. Unfortunately for all the honest organizations, many of them were corrupted from inside, using the people's contributions. It was far too common.

"When he said he wouldn't help them anymore," Trowa continued, "they turned on him and sent slicers to burn down the church. I was with Heero at the time. We were too far away. By the time we got there, we were too late to do much but clean up the mess."

Quatre could hardly feel it from the mysterious boy. He was one of those that was hard to read, but Quatre felt the jolt of regret and heard it in his voice. His emotions were carefully contained.

"Forty-three people were killed. Twenty-seven were children. Father Maxwell died from the smoke, trying to get all the kids out. On another colony, he may have lived. We took him to one of the public clinics, but they couldn't do anything. It left Duo with a bitter taste for outsiders."

"I understand," Quatre said quietly. "No wonder he dislikes me."

Trowa genuinely smiled this time.

"He just needs some time. He's not unreasonable, but he reacts strongly."

"I noticed," Quatre agreed miserably.

"Duo's a good guy. Just a little distrustful."

"I can't blame him," Quatre said, feeling a bit better now that he understood. "He..."

He stopped at a raised hand from Trowa. There were voices approaching. Trowa turned and poured two more cups of coffee as Duo and Heero entered.

"I can modify the explosives, but it's still risky isn't it? What if we blow the whole pipe?"

"You don't give yourself enough credit."

Duo laughed and they entered. Duo saw Quatre and frowned.

"What are you doing here?"

Quatre flinched at the biting tone, but Duo was quickly distracted as a hot cup of coffee was pressed into his hand by Trowa. Instead, Quatre shivered as he felt the gaze of the other one. He looked at the dark blue eyes of the one called Heero. He was intense and there was something about the boy. Quatre could feel something powerful from him, though he couldn't quite place the feeling. He smiled, nervous. Heero disregarded him quickly enough as Trowa also gave him a cup and spoke.

"He couldn't sleep. He saw the light and came to talk."

Duo looked at Quatre strangely, and Quatre felt that same strange feeling of bitterness and something else. Duo's eyes lingered on him for a moment more before dropping.

"Whatever, let's decide how we're gonna do this."

Trowa flashed Quatre an apologetic smile for the end of their talk before he sat down with the other two at the rickety round table and Duo opened a small white notebook with a map drawn. Quatre stayed quietly against the wall, happy at least that Duo hadn't sent him away.

"Okay, this is the map I was able to draw from the last time we went to the plant. That was before SSIP took it over. But when we were last there, the water was distributed to five main pipes. The pipe on this side should be the one that goes to Bossa's sector. If they've cut the water, it's probably there. If we blow the doors, it'll take them months to replace it. I figure Heero and I are the smallest. We can probably crawl into the pipe from the dry side and plant the explosives."

"I doubt that even I can get in there," Heero stated. "We would be better off taking one of the kids," Heero watched Duo levelly for his reaction.

"No." Duo said firmly.

"He's right, Duo. You guys are too big to fit inside. Even someone younger would have a hard time." Trowa reasoned.

"Damn it," the braided boy sat back. "Then maybe we shouldn't do it at all."

"Maybe," Trowa replied, quietly. "But that's a lot of families to leave without water, Duo. You'd be giving up a lot. Bossa could provide better protection than even we could."

Duo growled. Quatre could feel his dislike for the situation.

"I know. I just hate bringing them into this."

"The explosive is reliable. The only danger is if we get caught. Even then SSIP wouldn't hurt a child," Heero stated reasonably.

"You can't protect them from everything, Duo. You won't be around forever. Eventually someone will have to learn to take your place." Trowa's voice was soft and friendly. He was obviously very sensitive to his friend's doubt.

Duo nodded, slowly. "You're right. Okay. Emory can come. He's small and tough. He can plant the explosives inside. Once he's out, we'll blow the pipes open and then get the hell out of there."

"Then what?" Heero asked blandly. "They repair it and we're back in the same place."

Duo sighed. "I know. We'll just have to think of something more permanent. It's Bossa's call anyway. That's probably why he wants us to do it, so they can't link him to the attack. If he's already forming alliances with SSIP, maybe he can get them to keep the pipes open. Though it annoys me that we have no choice. SSIP is everywhere."

"We're going to have to work fast. If we knock the guards out and break in, it won't take long for backup security to show up. It will be hard to get back into the sewer. It takes a good 15 minutes from the water tanks. It's going to be hard to keep from having a fight."

"I can get you in."

Quatre had almost been forgotten, sitting quietly against the wall. Now, he blushed as six eyes turned on him when he spoke up. Duo was glaring and Quatre faltered a bit.

"I mean... well, if I'm supposed to be dead," he paused and swallowed. This was the first time he had said it out loud. "Then they won't have changed the security. I have access to everything. No one would even know someone had broken in. We could get in and out without anyone being the wiser."

"You have access to everything?" Duo asked skeptically. Quatre nodded.

"I have the highest security clearance."

"It's a lot easier than forcing our way in, Duo. There's less chance of hurting anyone." Trowa said quietly before turning to Quatre. "Are you sure about this, Quatre?" Trowa asked, concern in his eyes. "You could put yourself in danger by going there."

"I have to contact someone outside this colony." Quatre replied, determined. "The only place I can do that is from one of the SSIP stations. The water plant will have interstellar communications. If they're using this colony to build weapons, I have to warn someone."

Duo shook his head. "No. How do we can trust him? He's Winner's son. He could just turn us in as soon as we walked in."

"My father tried to have me killed." Quatre said hotly. "I'm not exactly on his side in this. I'm going there one way or another. I have to. I have to warn the Earth Sphere United Nations before this colony starts producing weapons. I will not let them start another war! I'll do anything to stop it."

The vehemence with which Quatre spoke startled even him. All three boys were focused on him. Even Heero seemed impressed. However Duo seemed to be the one to make the decision. Quatre met his violet eyes pleadingly.

"Please, Duo," Quatre said plaintively and Duo flinched when Quatre used his name. "I owe you for saving me. If this will get you someplace safe, I'm glad to help."

Duo was quiet, studying him intensely. His eyes were mistrustful and calculating. Quatre could sense turmoil from him. Finally the braided boy nodded.

"Okay then," he said lowly. "We'll go tonight. That will give us enough time to prepare.

* * *

Bossa Schenck flipped his blade in and out against his pants. He had been looking at the plans that had been drawn up for the newly acquired sector. After the slicers had taken out the three leaders in an ambush after a turf war, the people there had been desperate for a leader. Bossa had easily taken over, though there were still some bad feelings from some of the residents. Beside him, stood a rather skinny man with blond greasy hair, a long, narrow nose and a cleft chin. A builder that Bossa had grown up with, they had started in the same gang, and even though Kurt was rather weak as a fighter, he was irreplaceable when it came to repairing the structures on this run down colony. He came from a long line of builders and he had done nothing but good for the structures here, including their base, whether it was fortifying the buildings or repairing damage after a turf war or a colony tremor.

"This looks excellent, Kurt. And you're sure that this structure is the best place for our new base."

"Absolutely. It will be twice as hart to infiltrate as the building we're in now."

"And what of Duo's school?"

"Will be just a few blocks away and almost as safe, though I don't know why you want to involve yourself with him."

"Many reasons. First of all, he's in tight with Yui and Barton. That alone will help me. I want a good strong relationship with the food silos and they're preferable to the Swedes." He spat. " They require far to much in trade. Secondly, if we have Duo, we also have his power. Most of the gangs fear him, whether they admit it or not. His reputation as the God of Death does not sit lightly with the other leaders. Plus I want a school. We are more than just criminals now, and if we are to prove this to SSIP, I want education for our children. Duo already provides that for his own kids. We can gain so much for this colony if we can simply open up trade with the outsiders. I want my son and daughter to have that, just like any child on the outside. "

Then he grinned wolfishly. "And if, Duo happens to end up in my bed on the way, all the better. Or maybe I can get a taste of that fascinating new pet he's acquired. Knowing Duo, he's not even broken in."

Kurt for his part, wrinkled his nose in distaste. Men were not his thing. "And what of your wife?"

"Lovely of course, but a man of my standing needs some entertainment occasionally. If I had known about that interesting new boy, I may have asked for him in the trade. I wonder where he acquired that one."

"I would suggest you avoid that line of thought, unless you want to be Shinigami's next victim," a new voice said and as Bossa looked up and flipped his knife open. He was greeted by two of his guards flanking a visitor. He smiled.

"Wufei. How good of you to visit. You haven't changed your mind I hope."

"Not at all," Wufei replied coolly. "I'm here on my own."

"Ah so you wish to work out an offer of your own? Perhaps you would take Maxwell's place?"

Wufei glared. "Hardly. Unlike you, my loyalty can not be bought. It is for that, that I am here. I came to ask you if you had anything to do with the slicers that showed up yesterday."

Bossa's smile faded quickly. The temperature in the room seemed to drop. "I know nothing of that. If you notice, a few of my men were hurt as well."

"Slicers are rarely particular about who they maim, whether they have an arrangement or not. However, it seemed quite convenient that so many came at once. I sincerely hope that you weren't trying to kill Duo."

"Wufei, I have children. I hardly want to leave them without a father."

"Good," Wufei replied. "Because revenge will be swift if you harm Duo, or any of his children."

"I imagine he doesn't know you're here."

"No. He also doesn't know that it was your father who sold out the Maxwell Church."

Bossa's eyes widened and one of the men behind Wufei pulled a knife and lunged. Without even looking, Wufei caught the hand and in short order the man had his own knife pressed against his throat while the other was kicked into the wall. Bossa was up hands raised.

"Leave him be! He is not to be harmed!"

Kurt lowered his own knife and Wufei let his own hostage go. Bossa glared at the two and shouted something abrupt in German. The two men left quickly. Bossa himself was somewhat shaken.

"How did you know this?"

"I have my own sources."

Bossa sighed. "Damn my father and his weaknesses. I had nothing to do with his betrayal."

"I know that," Wufei replied. "That's why I never said anything. However I think I've made my point. You still have people who were his subordinates. They still have strong ties to your father's gang. If I find that you did bring the slicers or that you mean to harm Duo in any way, you can forget your school. If after this deal has gone through, if you harm him, there won't be a place on this colony for you to hide. I will find you."

"I assure you Wufei," Bossa smiled. "I did not call them there. If they came, they came. For all I know you could have brought them there for the same reason."

Wufei glared. "We don't work that way and you know it."

Bossa shrugged. "So you say. Perhaps your charming new empath could figure it out." He was back in control now and he grinned as Wufei's eyes narrowed. "Don't act so surprised my friend. Unless he brought those slicers?" Wufei's stony countenance answered his question. "I thought so. Perhaps you would like to leave him with me for a while? I'm sure I could make better use of him than Duo has."

"I would drop that idea right now if I were you. Duo will turn you into a woman if you so much as touch him."

Wufei paused. "However, you have something there. He is a powerful empath. He could definitely sniff out a rat if you have one."

"I trust my people... however since our last acquisition, I could see a few new ones who might have organized such an attack. Bring him here, and we can find out. If I find someone in my ranks is responsible, I can assure you they will be punished."

Wufei nodded.

"If and when Duo comes, I will not. I will be watching you, Bossa."

"I have no doubt. Kurt, escort him out."

* * *

"All right. Gather around everyone."

There was a stir as about 25 kids gathered around as Duo, Trowa, Heero and their newest addition exited the kitchen back into the main room. To Quatre's surprise, the children didn't seem to be intimidated at all by Heero or Trowa and a little girl immediately grabbed Heero's hand and was lifted into his arms. His face was still as unreadable as ever, but there was a warmth in his eyes and Quatre could feel his affection for the children that gathered around him. Behind him, Trowa's sure hand guided him out by the elbow and he joined the group. Duo walked to the other side and took a seat on the counter at the side of the room away from the rest as he spoke.

"Yeah, I know you've all been dying to meet the new kid. This is Quatre. He'll only be staying with us for a while."

"Is he a pet?"

"Where's he from?"

"He's not sick anymore is he?"

"How come he's not staying?"

The girl in Heero's arms tugged at his shirt and whispered "He's pretty."

"Hn." Heero replied quietly, looking over at Duo, who seemed more interested in the dirt in his nails.

The oldest boy, Jacob stepped forward and actually addressed Quatre.

"My name is Jacob." He held out a hand and Quatre took it smiling.

"Nice to meet you... all of you, he said to all of the children."

An older girl was next to speak. "Did you live with the Swedes? Or did they try to sell you off?"

Quatre's eyes crinkled sadly as he felt the betrayal in her voice and wondered if she had been in that situation herself.

"Not exactly," he answered hesitantly. "My family is Arabian."

"Besides, he's too polite to be a Swede," said a young black haired boy.

"Maybe he's from the outside."

"That's enough guys," Duo's voice cut through the noise and he grabbed two of the children by the hands. "It's time for breakfast." He dragged them into the kitchen and they all followed.

With that the children were sufficiently distracted and ran for the kitchen. Quatre sighed in relief as attention was taken away from him. However, he was surprised as Heero dumped the girl he had been holding into his arms.

"Here. I think she has a crush on you."

Quatre chuckled and took her, smiling. She blushed and whispered.

"You are from the outside aren't you?"

Quatre nodded. "But let's keep it a secret okay?"

She nodded and he set her down. She ran to the kitchen to join the others. Trowa and Heero stayed with Quatre.

"She's an empath," he said quietly. Heero nodded.

"I thought so."

Quatre turned to him. "You are too, Heero."

"Me?" There was confusion in those hard eyes, and Quatre nodded. "You're mistaken."

"We'll have more time to talk about this later," Trowa put a hand on Quatre's head. "Your fever is down."

Remembering, Quatre took the jacket he still wore and gave it back to the taller boy. "Thank you for all your help, Trowa."

"Thank you, Quatre. We'll see you tonight."

Heero and Trowa headed for the door.

"Duo, we're going for supplies," Heero called. "Do you need anything?"

Duo came out wiping his hands on a towel.

"No. But make sure you come before dinner. If you see Wufei, let him know what we're doing."

"Duo," Trowa said before they left. "He's still sick. Don't be too hard on Quatre."

They left and Duo was left facing the blond. Quatre swallowed, looking at the braided boy.

"Duo..."

"I appreciate what you're doing, Quatre," Duo said quietly. Quatre shrugged.

"You saved my life. It's the least I can do."

Duo nodded, and indulged for a minute, brushing his fingers softly against Quatre's forehead. Quatre for his part, froze, letting the warm fingers brush over his head before they trailed down his cheek. He didn't even breathe. Duo quickly pulled away.

"You're still warm. You should get some rest," Duo said gruffly. "We have a long night ahead."

Quatre nodded and smiled.

* * *

AC: Blech. This didn't flow at all, but it got more of the story done. I think the next couple of parts will be more exciting. Hope you like it. 


	8. The Forgotten 8

Title: The Forgotten

Author: Caer

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Yaoi, violence, angst, language

Pairings: 2x4

Status: Work in progress (part 7)

Disclaimer: This is simply fanfiction. I don't own this anime and I'm not making any money. It's just for fun.

Once again, Quatre found himself walking underneath the streets of L2. However this time he moved with purpose, following Duo and the other two. A little shadow walked alongside him also. Quatre was somewhat unsettled as the boy kept staring at him when they weren't moving. For what seemed like the hundredth time, Duo stopped the group to scout the area ahead. Quatre leaned gratefully against the wall, catching his breath. He was hot and sweaty and still felt somewhat stiff and weak from being sick. However, he didn't want the others to see his discomfort. From what he could see, this was a tough group. He had a feeling they weren't likely to take any weakness well. After making some progress with them earlier, the last thing he wanted to do was to damage that by appearing weak.

He took deep controlling breaths and concentrated on getting his heart rate down. However, little eyes pulled him from his meditation against the wall. Trowa and Wufei were ahead talking quietly, barely throwing him a glance. He looked down at the boy, who was thin and wiry, with jet black hair and ivory skin, and looked like he could use a few good meals, as most of the kids did. He had a glint of mischievousness in his eyes and Quatre suspected Duo had brought him for his obvious lack of fear. He had large hands and an uneven smile. Even in the dark, Quatre could map out white skin against the black hair as he smiled and the light caught their curve. The image would have been adorable, if it wasn't for the quite serious looking little knife he had tucked under his clothes.

He was very like Duo in fact and Quatre could tell that the younger boy tried very hard to emulate his hero. He watched Duo studiously, and Quatre could even see hints of the same body language. He also had the same sharp gaze, as if he was taking every detail in.

"You really came from outside?" The boy asked with an accent that sounded faintly Russian. He seemed fascinated, although he wasn't as curious as some of the other children had been. Quatre had spent a lot of the day, being questioned and inspected, until Duo had told them to leave him alone. This one seemed skeptical. Quatre could feel the doubt and curiosity within the boy.

"Yes," he said quietly. "I live on L4."

"So you've flown in a space ship?" The boy asked, still wary.

"I had to fly in one to get here." Quatre replied, smiling.

"Do you really float around in space?"

"Sort of," Quatre smiled.

"But how do you keep your stuff from flying away?" The boy asked, looking very concerned at this problem.

"Good question." Quatre answered. "When you travel in space, you have to strap everything down."

"How do you go to the bathroom?"

Quatre laughed and was about to answer, but a signal from Duo and they were running again. There were so many twists and turns, Quatre found himself completely lost. The temperature was stifling and Quatre was grateful when they finally broke from underground and emerged in the somewhat open air again. The artificial light was blaring and temporarily blinding. However it was long enough above ground for Quatre to get a look at where they were. They were close to the water plant now. The main gate would be guarded, but there wasn't enough need or budget to guard all entrances, and they were simply fenced off. Soon they were underground in another tunnel, heading toward a side entrance. Surfacing again, they were behind the gates. Quatre held his breath and entered his code, praying that it would work and that no alarms would be set off.

There was a collective feeling of relief as the light went green and they all heard the satisfying clunk of the automatic lock sliding. At the door, Quatre put his code in and they were once more inside. The air was humid and hot. The air was somewhat cooled by the giant industrial fans that pushed the air through the corridors. Their loud hum could be heard somewhere close to the complex. Fortunately it was hot enough that there wasn't likely to be anyone lingering in the hallways to stop them. Quatre didn't dwell too long on what would happen to them if Duo or Heero were to dispatch them.

They slowed down as they got close to the water supply, waiting for Duo's signal before turning each corner. When they arrived at the control station, they found with relief that it was empty but locked. Quatre punched in his code and the doors to the office opened.

"Duo," he said softly, even though they were quite alone in the corridor. "I can open the door from the office. I can contact someone and then meet you down in the reservoir."

"Okay." Duo said, but Quatre felt a wave of emotion from the boy. It was something close to suspicion, mixed with a bit of worry. "Heero, stay with Quatre and meet us down there."

Heero simply waited while the others disappeared down the hall toward the next door. Quatre noted with some sadness that Duo's mistrust still overshadowed anything else, and realized that he was left with Heero not for protection, but rather to make sure he didn't call anyone. Heero watched him with hawk like eyes, following his every motion as he activated the communications panel.

"Good morning Mr. Winner. Who would you like to call?" Quatre rolled his eyes and laughed at the obnoxiously soothing computer voice. He was almost glad to hear that voice and it struck him as odd, how used to basic technology he was.

"Please connect me with Relena Dorlian. Private communication."

"Understood," the computer replied. "What is your pass phrase?"

"Constantinople," he replied.

"Calling."

On one of the surveillance screens, Duo had appeared with Trowa and the young boy, Emory. Quatre typed in a code and the doors slid open. Quatre smiled nervously at Heero, who simply met his gaze with curiosity. Quatre wondered if the young man had any idea how intimidating he seemed. His eyes widened though, as a screen flickered to life and a pretty young blond woman in a light peach suit appeared on the screen.

"This is Relena Dorlian. Who's calling please... QUATRE!"

The girl went pale as she stared at them through the somewhat fuzzy connection. Quatre wasted no time.

"Relena. It's good to see you."

"Quatre, where are you. Everyone thinks you're dead!" her eyes flitted to Heero briefly. "Is he your captor?"

"No! Relena, this is Heero Yui. A friend of his saved my life."

Heero nodded at the girl who returned the nod curtly.

"We have to tell your father right away!"

"No!" Quatre said with fervor. "Relena, I'm sure he tried to have me killed. I was poisoned."

Relena took a minute to digest this and then smiled shakily. "I'm so glad you're okay. I was suspicious when they announced your death and there was no body. ESUN has already authorized me to investigate. I'm on my way right now."

"Good. Can you also tell my sister Johara? No one else should know for now, although you should file a report with ESUN for now."

"Quatre. You and I have never been fond of your father, but why on Earth would he do something like that? You're his only son."

Quatre laughed hollowly.

"Maybe, but he's never really liked me. But it's more than that. I think he's using the people of L2 to build weapons for someone."

Relena's gaze hardened. "Are you sure?"

"I saw a message in his office before I was poisoned. It fits somewhat. There are also some groups here who suspect the same thing. This would be the perfect spot to run that kind of operation... especially since this effort has been left in the capable hands of WEI right?"

"But you've no proof?"

"No. I just recovered a few days ago. My security code still works. That's how I was able to get back and contact you. I don't know how long I can stay here. If they find me..." Quatre left the rest unsaid.

"With no proof, I don't know what we can do. I can put some of my people on it for now. I'll be there tonight. Will you be alright until I get there?"

"I'm with the underground group that saved me. I can stay with them until you get here. I don't think anyone even knows I'm still alive."

"Make sure you keep it that way. Your father is on his way there to meet me for the investigation."

"Relena, look into the name Tsuberov," Quatre spelled it quickly. "It was the name on the note I saw. I'll look here and try to find more proof. As long as my access still works I can get into some pretty secure places. Maybe even my father's office still."

"Just keep safe until we get there." Relena said soberly. She turned blue eyes on the Heero. "Heero Yui, I implore you to keep Quatre safe and I thank you for taking care of him up to this point."

Heero blinked at being addressed directly. However he nodded.

"Nothing should happen to him as long as he's with us."

"How can I contact you when I get there?"

"We'll contact you. Thank you, Relena." Quatre assured.

Contact was cut and Quatre sighed.

"Who is she?" Heero asked with a hint of fascination.

Quatre laughed. "She's quite something isn't she? She's young, but she's already an important activist for human rights for ESUN. Um... the Earthspere United Nations. My family is very influential, so Relena and I have grown up together."

"United?" Heero repeated. "Then the wars have ended?"

Quatre nodded. "Finally. Partially thanks to Relena and her strong stance on peace. She's captured the people and convinced them to push their individual governments to move toward peace. There are a few factions that still want to keep the wars going. It's hard to stop fighting once it's started."

"Your father is part of that?"

"No. This is business I'm sure," Quatre said bitterly. " As I said, my family is pacifist. However, my father has always looked to business over the peace of the nations."

Heero nodded, seemingly satisfied with the conversation.

"We need to go meet the others."

Quatre nodded and they made their way down the corridor to the reservoir.

The reservoir was a giant room, at least two hundred yards wide, mostly taken up by a giant water reservoir tank below. The walkway skirted the edge of the reservoir, all the way around to a large control panel. At one end of the giant room, water poured down a slanted wall and into the tank. The air was damp with humidity and some of the fixtures in the room that were not stainless steel showed signs of rust. Long pipes ran the length of the room on the outside, delivering water to various quadrants of the colony. Some were leaking quite badly, though there was recent soldering work to show that some repair had been done. The wheels behind the wall where the water flowed from could be heard, filtering the water and pushing it through to the reservoir.

"Quatre wiped the perspiration already forming on his upper lip in the brutal humidity. Duo and the others were at the far end. Duo was kneeling in front of Emory. Quatre could feel a hint of worry, but it was overshadowed by a sharp focus on the task at hand. Emory himself seemed excited, and eager to please. In a small bag, was the explosive Heero and Duo had put together for the conduit. It was a small amount, as they were only blowing the door off to let the water flow through, but it was still dangerous. Quatre grimaced as he thought about how commonplace this kind of risk was for people in this society.

Trowa had already opened the duct. The small boy scrambled in. It was a tight fit anyway, but he made his way down the tube, knocking on the side so they could track his progress.

Quatre shivered. He had come here because he wanted to help and now he was aiding what could be considered a terrorist group outside. He only hoped he would get the chance to explain everything and keep Duo and his group from any trouble. The more he knew these brave people, the more he realized with a little help, they could easily join ESUN and become a beneficial resource.

After a few tense moments waiting for Emory, the young boy emerged, with a huge grin on his face. Trowa lifted him down and helped him brush spiderwebs, dust and even a few spiders off the boy. Quatre couldn't help but smile. Waves of pride were pouring off the boy and Duo was aptly enthusiastic.

"Ya did good, kiddo."

Emory smiled up at Quatre and Quatre smiled back as Duo ruffled the spiderwebs out of his wild brown hair.

"All right. Everyone move to the door. If anything goes wrong, I don't want any one to get hit with the onrush. Not to mention we'll need to get out of here fast."

Everyone headed for the far side. Duo had a small walkie talkie and Quatre realized that it wasn't actually for communication, but rather rigged to set off the delicate explosive they had planted. Quatre once again found himself impressed at the amount this group had managed to create so much from what was left over with almost no intervention. He wondered how much had been passed to them by father Maxwell. Had the man foreseen the troubles they might encounter and the probable lack of help and prepared them as much as he could. Quatre wished very much he could get back to civilization and learn more about the man.

They stood against the railing. Emory climbed up a bit so he could stand as tall as they were and watch. Duo pushed the button and there was a quiet beep, followed by a short BOOM within the tube. Emory laughed and said something Quatre didn't quite understand, perhaps in Russian. He stood on the bar so he could get down. Suddenly, the rush of water through an empty pipe rumbled past them in a roar, shaking the pipes and startling them all. Quatre saw it coming as he looked over and saw Emory lose his footing on the lower bar of the railing. As if he had said something, Heero turned to look as well but was slightly too slow to catch the boy before he plummeted into the water, 20 feet below.

The water was deep and in a bowel like tank with no handhold's or any way to climb out. There was a ladder, but it was hundreds of feet on the other side of the tank. It was the only way out. Since this was a controlled environment for filtering drinking water, there wasn't even a standard life preserver around. Or if there had been it was long since stolen.

Emory was struggling madly and flailing his arms and feet, but he was quickly losing a battle to a foe he didn't know how to fight. As Quatre looked up, he saw that the other boys, who seemed so strong were frozen helpless. The realization dawned quickly that they couldn't swim. Water was very rare here.

"Emory!!" Duo went to jump in but Trowa swiftly grabbed him, knowing that would just put them in twice the trouble. Heero swore and dropped to his knees to look in his pack for anything that would help. "Let me go! Damnit, Trowa!"

Kicking off his shoes, Quatre quickly climbed up and jumped. It was a high drop, but not too high. He heard Duo's cry behind him as he plunged beneath the water and stroked swiftly for the surface. The water was rather frigid for even though it was hot on the colony, this water was underground and unheated. Unfortunately he was still weak from his sickness, but fortunately, Quatre was a skilled swimmer. Once his head broke the surface, he quickly scanned the water and found Emory, his struggles had weakened and he was swallowing a lot of water. Quatre swam quickly. When he was close enough he yelled out.

"Emory! Calm down okay!" Emory glanced at him, but continued to flail. Quatre cursed. "I can help you, but you have to stop struggling. You can do it. The water can't harm you if you're calm okay? Keep kicking and lay on your back. Take a deep breath and look at the ceiling."

Emory obviously was trying and though he was still panicked, he did what he was told and looked up, kicking and taking deep gasps. Quatre moved quickly before he started panicking again and swam up behind the boy, grasping him tightly around the arms and using his sheer strength to hold the boy from behind while he whispered comforts in his ear. Emory's strength was heightened by his panic and adrenaline and he nearly broke Quatre's grasp, but fortunately he was small so Quatre put his full strength behind his grip and continued to speak calmly.

"It's okay now. I've gotcha." He said quietly, feeling the boy calm a little as he held tight, kicking to keep them up and laying back so that Emory could get used to the feeling of being able to float in the water. "You'll be okay if you keep calm. If you struggle, you could pull us both under, but I can hold you if you relax okay?"

Emory was too busy coughing and taking in great breaths of air, but he nodded. Quatre kept his voice even.

"We're going to swim to that ladder, but it's pretty far away. I'm going to go slow. Just kick your feet okay?"

Emory started kicking, still in a bit of a panic and Quatre winced as a stray heel came very close to his groin, but slammed into his thigh instead. Quatre adjusted himself so they could both kick and he slowly brought them toward the ladder. Looking up, he could see the others watching, eyes wide. He could feel waves of relief and amazement flowing off of the boys. Duo was first to run the long way around the edge of the reservoir and to the ladder. The others followed behind.

"You did great, Emory. You're a natural at swimming!" Quatre soothed as they finally made it to the ladder. At this point, Quatre's lips were trembling from the cold and the exertion. Emory's lips were also a little blue, but there was excitement in the boys eyes as he realized he had been swimming.

"I need you to keep calm while we climb the ladder. We don't want to fall in again. I'll be right behind you."

If Quatre was honest with himself, he was barely able to hang on as they made their way back up the ladder. He gritted his teeth and made his way up, even though his arms were shaking from the effort. Emory was still coughing but otherwise unharmed, though he was a little wobbly going up the ladder as well. Once they reached the top, Trowa lifted the boy out, using one arm while Heero and Duo grabbed Quatre's arms and hefted him onto the ledge as well. They were both a wet soppy mess, but they were alive. Duo handed Quatre his shoes, not saying a word, but going to Emory and hugging the boy harshly.

"What were you thinking! You could have died!"

Tears welled in Emory's eyes as he held to Duo suddenly. Now that the adrenaline had worn off and the shock was kicking in, his emotions weren't in check.

"I'm sorry! I slipped."

Duo might have crushed the boy from embracing him so hard, but Emory didn't seem to care as Duo squeezed the life out of him.

"I know. It's okay. You did a good job. I'm proud of you."

Emory started and looked up at Duo with disbelieving eyes. Almost immediately turned to Quatre, who was still a sopping mass as he finished tying his shoe. He looked at Emory and smiled at the look of pride in the boy's eyes.

"Not so bad huh?" Quatre winked. Emory smiled back and shook his head.

"Come on, we need to get going." Heero pressed.

Duo held his hand out to Quatre, who took it gladly. Duo's hand was warm on his, and Quatre was loathe to let it go. Duo flashed him one brief glance, but turned quickly. Taking off his top, he wrapped it around Emory's shoulders before lowering on his haunches in front of the boy.

"Come on, kid."

Emory blinked and then climbed on Duo's back.

"Let's get out of here before someone finds us."

Quatre took a breath, shivering.

"Come on."

Trowa took Quatre's elbow and pushed him forward. "Moving should warm you up. You can rest soon."

"Yeah." Quatre said shakily and ran after the others.

* * *

Relena forced a frustrated smile and greeted various reporters as they greeted her on her way from the conference room on the plane where she had been working with leaders to draw up a standard set of standard united rules for engagement in both business and war. However her mind had not been in the meeting as hard as she tried to focus. Just a bit earlier, one of her dearest friends, who she had thought dead had suddenly appeared on her private channel. She and Quatre shared the burden of being thrust into a life of high profile at a young age. However, where Relena had given in and embraced it, Quatre did as much as he could to stay low and keep away from it all. However, he was equally diligent at using his fated powers and money to do good things. He preferred to be viewed as just one of many of Winner's children. It was difficult, as he was the only boy.

They had met one evening at a party some two years ago and had been instant friends. Quatre had very easily won her friendship and not just for fun. He had used her high profile and good standing to champion various causes that he thought had potential. Since she truly believed in most of these causes, she was quite willing to go along. In return, he helped her to strategically plan in her dealings with different leaders, as some of them were quite crafty. One thing he got from his father in spades was an easy affinity for manipulation and the give and play of diplomacy, though he did it in a far less cut throat style. Because of his empathy, Quatre knew people. He knew how and when to hit just the right buttons. In fact, he would occasionally pose as a waiter or a steward in the meetings so he could get a feel for her adversaries and figure out how to work them the right way. Everyone had their buttons.

Once Quatre could explain how different people in the room were feeling, Relena found she could easily work on those who were more malleable in order to get a majority and get the less agreeable representatives to go along.

However Quatre was relatively naive as to his manipulation as well as his abilities, or at least he pretended to be so. He was willing to help Relena because of her cause and because of what she could help him with, as well as their friendship. However, Quatre readily admitted that he was not ready, or willing to take on much more responsibility, otherwise Relena would have snatched him up as an assistant long ago.

Mostly, he was determined not to be what his father wanted to be, him. Of all the people Quatre didn't want to emulate, his father was first on the list. Quatre had held a severe distrust of the man as long as he could remember. Though Relena had liked the man at first because of his families dedication to peace and the willingness with which he had embraced her cause, Quatre had admitted to her that he held a darkness. Winner was a master of manipulation and power. Though he was ever compliant in peace talks and in forming new alliances, Quatre knew there was a dark side to the man.

Once Relena had met one or two of the man's wives, she had begun to see it. They were taken care of, but ever subservient to him. He ruled his household as well as his business. She soon found out that he did not take kindly to defiance. As long as you were on his side, he was a amiable man. But few crossed Randolph Winner.

Even as she made her way back toward her private cabin she sighed. She knew she would only have a few minutes before having to log into another conference. That would most likely run into the late evening with conversation about the new treaty and various business transactions that would be lobbied on the way. She only hoped she could get a bite to eat before she arrived in the L2 cluster.

However, a few minutes would be enough. As she bid farewell to the last of the reporters, a young gentleman, obviously courting her favor a bit too desperately for her liking, she finally reached her rooms and entered quickly under the fatherly arm of Pargan, her lifelong servant. The man brusquely bid farewell to her business attendants and closed the door. True to his nature, he had already set out her favorite chamomile tea along with her laptop, email ready.

"Pargan, you're an angel as usual. Join me, quickly as there is much I have to tell you. I'll need your help while we're on L2. I have a feeling I will be under heavy scrutiny while I'm there and there is secret business I will need you to run while I'm there. No one can know yet, except for the two of us."

* * *

Duo's bedraggled group made their way back toward the refuge. Even Heero and Trowa looked tired. Quatre looked around and realized he was starting to get a hang of the tunnels and had a decent idea of where they were. Just a few more turns and they would be there.

Duo slowly put Emory down, looking at Trowa. Silently, Trowa took the boy and they all made their way back home. Quatre moved to follow, but Duo did not go with them, so he was stuck looking at the boy's bare back. It was colored with light scars, but it was well muscled. Now that he was uncovered, Duo was quite a bit thinner than Quatre liked, but he was still beautiful. Quatre looked up from that distraction with questioning eyes, wondering why they had stopped. The others had already disappeared around the corner.

Duo turned, not meeting his eyes, but looking off at the wall.

"Yeah, I guess I've been kind of a jerk. You really saved us today. So yanno, thanks."

"I'm glad I could help."

"I've been kind of jealous of your privilege, honestly," Duo practically interrupted the boy, trying to get out what he was saying. "But I guess it helped us out this one time. Not like I can give you much but I am in your debt, so we'll at least do what we can to get you home safely. Just don't expect much." Duo's tone was bitter and he grabbed Quatre's arm and started to drag him toward the main hall.

Duo stopped when his hand was yanked back from the force of Quatre releasing himself.

"What is your problem!" Quatre said, green-blue eyes blazing. "Why are you so cold? What did I do? Did I ask to be born somewhere else? What do I have to do to get you to accept me? I'm sorry I'm rich, okay!" Quatre shouted desperately. Duo began to walk toward him. "I'm sorry I got things that you never did. But I didn't ask for that any more than you asked to be born..."

Quatre found himself caught in Duo's intense gaze, and realized that in his impassioned plea, he hadn't noticed that Duo had backed him up against the wall. There was violent intention in the boy's emotions and Quatre half expected to be hit, or slammed against the wall.

"What... I... Duo." The blond's voice was barely a whisper as he found himself pinned against the wall of the tunnel. Duo had effectively pushed him back until he was inches away, their breath mixing in his closeness.

Quatre closed his eyes and murmured wantonly as Duo pressed his mouth roughly against his. Duo gripped his hair hard and the pain caused him to gasp in shock before his mouth was filled even more by a forceful tongue. The kiss was raw and needy and full of pent up frustration. Suddenly Quatre was hit with waves of unchecked lust and want. It was such a rush he felt his legs give a little from the power of the emotion. In the passion, Duo's hands strayed up his leg and half way up his shirt, causing Quatre to moan needfully, before Duo yanked his head away and stopped his wondering touch. Quatre was breathless.

As they separated, both were panting, exhausted by the passion of a single kiss. Duo rested his head on Quatre's shoulders, waiting for his breath to even out. He raised a shaky hand to the pale white throat, stroking his fingers down the soft ivory skin before raising his eyes to meet Quatre's.

"That's why," he finally said, gruffly. "You don't belong here... and when you go back to your colony, I'll never see you again. I didn't want to get close." He said through grated teeth, before turning in fury and walking quickly after the others.

With that, Quatre was left alone against the wall, to follow if he wished.


	9. Chapter 9

Title: The Forgotten

Author: Caer

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Yaoi, violence, angst, language

Pairings: 2x4

Status: Work in progress (part 7)

Disclaimer: This is simply fanfiction. I don't own this anime and I'm not making any money. It's just for fun.

Hey guys. Thanks for still being here. Little warning here. There is lemon in this chapter, but I won't post it on fanfiction dot net. However, you can go to my website to read the full uncut version. You can enjoy the chapter without the lemon, but I needs me some lemon. These guys have been sexually frustrated in my head for years now. They need some action. Hope you like! We're getting close now. May even finish this fic before the year is over. What a concept. Lot of talking again in this one, but a little boy on boy action!

Thanks again for reading!

* * *

Duo had kissed him. _Kissed_ him!

Quatre followed Duo into the main hall, completely perplexed. The emotions directed toward him had been such a mix of doubt, hate, confusion and passion, that he hadn't really been able to sense any clear feelings, let alone... attraction. People here were so hard to read. They were guarded, and confusing. Of course most of what Quatre had felt from people in the charity lines was simple gratitude. He had admittedly never gotten that close to any of the actual L2 residents.

The kiss had been so raw and hard and amazing. Quatre could still feel it on his lips , and he could still feel the raw passion coursing through him, even as he was handed a bowl of soup by one of the children. The soup was watered down and not very flavorful, but Quatre ate it with gusto as he found his healthy appetite had returned. He decided for now to focus on that, and set to the task of finding some salt.

Duo watched him from the kitchen. Though the blond was an outsider, he seemed to get on easily with the residents of their small home. Though wary, the children seemed fascinated with him, and he used this to his advantage, joking and .Wufei approached him quietly, after he had given Trowa and Heero something to eat.

"So. Will you be sending him with Heero and Trowa?"

Duo's fingers tightened against the cold metal counter top.

"No." Duo said forlornly. "He'll be leaving too soon as it is."

"Maybe" Wufei said putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "So why not take advantage of the time he's here?"

"Wufei," Duo warned.

"I understand how you feel, Duo.

* * *

Later that night, when most of the group was in bed, Duo sat in his room, sharpening his knife.

"You didn't eat,"

Duo looked up to see the one person he wanted to see more than anything, and the one person he knew he shouldn't. The blond had a bowl in hand and was smiling so gently. A look so foreign to the people of L2, Duo wondered at it.

"What are you doing here?" He put the knife down.

"Wufei told me to bring you some food."

"Ha. Figures."

"Aren't you hungry? It's been a long day."

"I guess," Duo took the bowl and began eating, trying not to look up at the boy. But Quatre wasn't having that. He sat down on Duo's bed, next to him. Duo's leg twitched.

"Shouldn't you get some sleep?"

"I'm not tired."

Duo gritted his teeth and drank the rest of his soup, setting the bowl before turning to the blond.

So what are you doing here?

Quatre reached out a hand and brushed back Duo's thick brown bangs, edging closer.

"Hold still. I'm trying to figure something out."

Quatre kissed him, gently, running his tongue along Duo's upper lip. The boy moaned a little. Quatre could feel him shaking. He pulled away and smiled.

"You aren't lying," Quatre grinned.

"I never lie,"

"You're so hard to read though," Quatre said, frowning. "I couldn't tell how you felt."

"Yeah well... I was trying to hide it." Duo said a bit uncomfortably. "Empaths can be really dangerous to us here. We all have different tricks to try to avoid being read."

"That explains it," the boy replied. "Everyone here is difficult to read. But you especially."

"Yeah well... been burned before."

Duo jumped as Quatre's hand slid up his leg.

"What are you doing?"

Quatre grinned wickedly. He quickly flipped up to sit on Duo's lap, breathing on the boy's earlobe before giving it a quick lick.

"What does it look like? I'm seducing you," he whispered.

* * *

_There is lemon next, but I won't post it here. You can find it on my website._

* * *

Quatre woke, feeling incredibly safe, albeit sweaty and hot as usual. Remembering the night before he smiled and turned over to find Duo looking at him, somewhat sleepily himself.

"Hey," Quatre grinned.

"Hey," Duo whispered. "Did you know you talk in your sleep? A lot?"

"I do?" Quatre was surprised. But since he had been ill, his dreams had been vivid. At least he was free of nightmares this time. They had slept apart because of the intense heat of the colony, but Quatre did remember his hand finding Duo's a few times through the night. He stretched and crawled naturally into Duo's arms. He kissed Duo's neck almost reverently before giving it a lick.

Duo snorted and pushed him away a bit.

"Don't get me horny, Quatre. The kids are awake and we've gotta get up soon."

Quatre muffled his disappointed whine in Duo's neck, before giving in and nibbling at it. Duo moaned involuntarily.

"Quatre, stop. This is hard enough. You're going to have to leave soon. It'll make it harder if we keep doing this."

Quatre backed off, but reached up to clear Duo's bangs out of his sleepy eyes. Adorable was the word that came to mind as Quatre looked into them.

"It doesn't have to be that way, Duo. I want to help. Why would I leave?Especially now?"

"Quatre, you can't stay here. It's too dangerous." He frowned. "I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to you. And you especially would be in a lot of danger. Empaths are hot targets. They don't last long on this colony."

Quatre frowned, a stubborn line forming in his forehead as he crossed his arms.

"It's my risk to take."

"Quatre, you don't know what you're saying," Duo whispered into his hair. "Do you know how many friends I've lost over the years?" There was a raw pain in the boy's voice that rang through Quatre's body like a scream. He collapsed a little and tried to comfort Duo with soft touches.

"I want to understand, Duo." Quatre put a hand over the boy's heart. "That's why I will be part of your life, whether you welcome me or not. I'm not just going to go away. I have connections. I have friends who can make things happen here. Once Miss Relena is here, she will be able to talk to L2 as an envoy. Once she reports the conditions here, she can get ESUN involvement. Once we deal with my father."

Quatre's beautiful eyes grew dark again and Duo kissed him, trying to distract him from his dark thoughts. He sounded so hopeful, but he didn't want to get his hopes up. Quatre moaned into the kiss and began to run his hand down between Duo's legs. Duo quickly pushed him back into the bed before kissing him once on the forehead playfully.

"I guess we need to talk some more, but right now, we... have... to... get... up."

Duo got out of bed and began putting on his clothes. Quatre frowned. He realized he was being avoided, but he knew that pressing the matter would not be a good idea right now. He started to root around for his clothes.

* * *

High up in the tower of an old skyscraper, Bossa sat in a relatively undamaged office. In the newly acquired quadrant, his people had been working hard to clean up the graffiti and patch the holes, using materials from buildings that were not salvageable. It was a work in progress, but even with some leftover holes in his office and a cracked window, it was doable for now. The rest of his clan was out fortifying the outside edges of town, in order to make it as secure as possible. He had a feeling that once his community had a school for the kids and one of the greenhouses, it would attract those that wanted a better life.

"Bossa, it's Shinigami. He's here."

Bossa stood up, straightening his shirt.

"Did you escort him in?"

Yes sir. He and his pet are here.

Bossa's eyes glinted. "Even better. All right then, show them in."

The man yelled a few guttural words out the door, and Duo and his little blond walked in.

"Heir Maxwell, it's good to see you. I take it you've come to see the place I have set up for you?"

"Yeah. Plus we want to try to ferret out your little rat."

"Ah, I thought that may be the case. So your new pet is an empath." Bossa wandered over to the boy, who stood firm. However, the German could see the anxiety in Duo's stance as he got closer. He wondered how far he could get before Duo gave in. He ran a questing hand up the boy's white shirt, before hooking a finger under his chin and getting uncomfortably close.

"I might suggest that you leave such a treasure with me for a while." He leaned in and smelled the boy's hair. He'll be far more secure. "May I try him?"

Duo was absolutely rigid, but he wasn't going to pretend.

"Bossa, Quatre isn't a..."

"Master,"

Quatre seemed to surprise both of them and Quatre now had his hand on Bossa's chest, close to his neck, ready to push the man back if need be.

"I won't unless you want me to. Is that your wish?"

Duo was stymied. It took him a few starts in his throat before he could say anything. Was Quatre still pretending? He quickly recovered. If Quatre still wanted to play that game. he could play it too.

"Back off, Bossa. He's mine and he knows it. He could hurt you if you're not careful."

Bossa laughed heartily. "So you have trained him then. Well, perhaps later we can work something out." He leaned down and whispered close to the boy's ear, making Quatre shiver. "He is a jewel. It would be a waste not to share him.

"Maybe. But he's new. You can understand my desire to keep him that way right?" Duo grinned.

Bossa puffed another breath on Quatre's ear, before backing away.

"Very well. I should show you the building we have picked for you. I think you will find that it is very secure. Better than that rat hole you've been living in up to now. It used to be a hospital."

Bossa walked out the door in front of them, while his cohorts guided Quatre and Duo out.

"Quatre, why the hell did you do that?" he whispered as he got as close as he could. Fortunately the two men behind them were keeping their distance. Almost everyone on L2 knew of the Shinigami's reputation. Distance meant time to react to an attack.

"Don't knock it. It may be better this way for now, right?" Quatre said quietly. "Besides, it's kind of fun being your pet. Don't you think so, master?"

Duo swallowed and willed his body not to react to the sultry purr in Quatre's voice as he said it. This kid was going to be trouble for him no matter what. However, for now this was easier. Though they wouldn't keep it quiet for long, Bossa and his gang didn't need to know about Quatre... especially with a traitor in his group.

They followed Bossa out of the building. At the bottom of the stairs, they were joined with some of the group Quatre had seen before, including the bald man that had found him that day under the escalator. However, just like Duo, they were not easy to read. They all seemed dangerous and guarded. They hardly even seemed to trust each other. He was having trouble pinpointing anyone who felt outside of the group. He would need some interaction with them before he could tell who might be a traitor.

They made their way down the street two blocks until they came to a somewhat large steel building that was still structurally sound. It seemed a little drab, but with the small windows and only 2 entrances, it did seem secure. However the size was impressive.

"It used to be a hospital, but they have some bigger rooms where you can have lessons."

Duo seemed impressed so far.

"Are there beds?"

"Some. As you can guess, much of the building was gutted, but we saved what we could. You will have to bring some of the equipment from your current residence. But we stripped out anything you couldn't use. You were left with quite a few supplies, including medical."

"Well that will come in handy," Duo agreed. Between the cuts and scrapes that their younger kids received up to the more serious wounds received by the older ones, medical supplies were hard to come by. Trowa would be pleased.

Inside, the rooms were relatively clean. Someone had already scrubbed them out and cleared the debris. Right now, many of Duo's kids slept in one room. This would ensure that each child could have their own room... at least for a while. There was a rudimentary kitchen, with running water now thanks to Duo's help.

Quatre could feel the excitement coming off of Duo. This would be so much better than where they were. However he scanned the other people with them and had a hard time finding any off-putting feelings. These people were hard to read.

"I hope you see that I'm planning more than just a safe haven, Heir Maxwell. If we do this right, we can make something of this colony. Perhaps we will finally rejoin the rest of the colonies officially. Now that they're here, we can show them what we can make of ourselves, no?"

Duo nodded.

"You really think this could work."

"It's changed even in the last ten years, friend. There are enough families out there now that want to move away from the gangs and find a real community. But they need protection."

"And that's you, then," Duo crossed his arms and regarded the German skeptically.

"And you of course." Bossa smiled his charming smile. "I would be a fool not to have the colony's best warriors in my territory."

Quatre could tell that Duo balked. He was used to running his own territory. But for the children, he had a feeling Duo would be willing to join something bigger. Quatre subtly moved toward him, lending what support he could.

"What about slicers? We can work deals with the gangs, but slicers won't care either way."

"We've been fortifying this area. If we guard the perimeter we shouldn't have too much trouble. There are very few entrances."

"I don't know, Bossa. I know you have enough power to maintain your territory . It's a big step to put our safety in your hands though. What's in this for you?"

"I admit, Duo, that I want to add you to my list of allies. With you on my side, the famous 'Shinigami', I will gain security in name alone. You could say I would like to add you to my 'collection'." He eyed Duo less than innocently. Duo tensed as Bossa's ice blue eyes raked down his figure. "You have my word that you can trust me. That is all I can give. With you on my side, relations with Heero and Trowa will be set. We'll have access to food and water. I'm hardly powerful if I can't provide for my citizens am I"

"Master..."

Duo turned to Quatre, who seemed to be looking at Bossa, but not seeing him. He seemed almost in a trance, as Duo realized the blond was reading the German man.

"I think you can trust him. He's not trying to deceive you."

Quatre released his gaze and looked at Duo meaningfully.

"He's not lying."

Bossa grinned, impressed.

"A powerful empath at that. I think you will need my protection, heir Duo. This pet of yours would fetch a handsome price out there. He is a powerful commodity."

"He's mine, Bossa."

The German tilted his head in acquiescence.

"Of course. I'm just saying that as partners, he would be useful in our dealings with the other gangs."

Duo mulled over everything they had seen. Quatre thought he could be trusted.

"Partners huh?" Duo approached Bossa, who stood almost 4 inches taller than the brown haired boy, but Duo was still impressive in his stance. His muscles were taught with disciplined power. Quatre caught a breath as he realized how strong Duo truly was. If the two fought, he had no doubt that Duo would win.

"I am putting my trust in Quatre, and you. But if you betray me, Bossa. I will kill you."

For just a moment, the German flinched.

"Of that I have no doubt, Heir Duo."

* * *

Randolph Winner stood and watched as the plane was connected to the colony atmosphere.

"Right on time, "

Once they had exited the pressure tube into the colony, he stepped forward, shaking her hand.

"Miss Peacecraft, I welcome you. I hope your trip was smooth."

"Fairly smooth, I thank you. Though we did have to skirt some debris when we got close. We were planning on getting here earlier. Can I offer you my deepest condolences, Mr. Winner." Relena's lips were tight and pale.

"Of course, you and Quatre were quite close as well." Winner replied.

"Quite close," she replied.

Her demeanor was stiff, but her tone was calm. He turned and led them to the rooms he had set up.

"Though it's dangerous outside these walls, we have this sector secured. You should feel perfectly safe while you conduct your investigation."

"Thank you, Mr. Winner, however I will want to meet some of the people here, and of course see the living conditions of those around the colony."

Randolph winner hesitated.

"Miss Peacecraft, I must caution you. It is very dangerous out on the streets. My son found that out the hard way." Winner's voice grew hoarse. "We can not risk you falling into the same situation."

"If I were alone I'm sure it would be dangerous. But the people here have no weapons, and I've not heard of any terrorist actions recently."

"We did have an explosion yesterday at the main water facility."

"Was anyone hurt?"

"No." Winner replied.

"I have read in the reports that you recently secured the water supply in this quadrant. I suppose that if the people felt you had control of their source of life, they would want it back." Relena stated.

"I can assure you that we don't deny anyone water. They are free to request it."

"A misunderstanding then, I'm sure." Relena replied curtly. "That's why we must talk to the people. Thank you, Mr. Winner. I am confident that my guards can handle the task. I will travel out as soon as possible. I should like you to tell me about the leaders on the colonies. I shall want to speak with all of them."

"Of course," Winner replied icily. "If you'll come this way."

He led them to a group of black cars. He stepped into one, while Relena and her entourage took the other two cars. They headed for SSIP's main complex, stopping along the way at the food distribution center.

Winner guided Relena and her security to the kitchens, where people were busy preparing warm meals.

"This is where we provide food and clothing for the people. If they sign up for our program, they can get food, clothes and medical attention. This helps the program to grow, because as we help them, they work to help even more. They can either work with us here at the main center, or they can branch out and help with maintenance and repair. Either way, this is a place to provide them with a hot meal and an opportunity to earn a living. We have multiple programs, employing the residents.

"Very impressive," Relena acknowledged. "I would like to start my inquiry here. I'm sure many of these people have seen Quatre. I would like to question them.

She nodded to her security and they moved out among the people in the small cafeteria. She herself went to the line of people distributing food.

"Can I help?"

A lady nodded and handed her a ladle. Winner interjected.

"Miss Relena, you don't have to do that."

"Nonsense," She replied, handing a bowl of soup to an old woman. "This is what we're here for. I want to build some trust among these people. Otherwise, we won't get anywhere with our investigation."

Relena continued to work in the line. Winner sighed and joined her, passing out bread. Relena smiled as she handed a bowl to a young girl. She was about 15... just a few years younger than Relena herself. She had frizzy brown hair and a multitude of freckles. She was slightly tan and her hands were rough from hard work. However she had an easy smile and she was quite forward.

"You're new here. I'm Julie. What's your name?"

"Relena Dorlian," she replied, glad to meet a girl around her age, let alone someone willing to talk. It drove home the point that these were people who needed help. This was no longer a colony for criminals, but a place where children had been born and raised in terrible conditions. Yet they survived. So much could be done here. She understood why Quatre had been so interested in this project.

"Relena, That's a nice name. Thank you for your help." The girl moved to take the soup from Relena, but as she took the soup, she took Relena's hand, pressing a small note into it. Relena glanced at Quatre's father, who seemed unaware. The girl smiled at her. "You should come visit the Greenhouse in H Quadrant. You'll find friends there."

The girl winked and took her soup, moving to a table. Relena pocketed the note, to be read later.

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

Title: The Forgotten

Author: Caer

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Yaoi, violence, angst, language

Pairings: 2x4

Status: Work in progress (part 8)

Disclaimer: This is simply fanfiction. I don't own this anime and I'm not making any money. It's just for fun.

* * *

Relena sat in the car and watched the empty streets go by. As she pressed her fingers against the glass, she could feel the oppressive heat from outside.

"Everyone must stay underground."

"Unfortunately, since the colony was abandoned, no maintenance has been performed to keep the station functioning. It has slowly degraded over time."

"That is insane. They just left thousands of people, to fend for themselves. Prisoners or not, that is inhumane."

"In war, the treatment of prisoners is often overlooked."

"It's no justification," Relena said, her jaw set. "Nor was the experimentation and the creation of... what are they called again?"

"Slicers, Ms. Relena."

"Right..." she said biting her lip.

Quatre was out there, in that mess of a city. He could have died, and even now, he might be in danger. She wanted nothing more than to scoop him up and get him out of this place as quickly as possible. However, she had to be careful. If she caused a scene and Winner was able to hide any evidence, and Quatre would just be in more danger. He knew this as well. Still, she couldn't help but worry. Knowing little about this colony except for the stories of gangs, poverty and murder, she didn't know what he would be up against, and she didn't know these people he was with. He was alive for now, but could this turn into a hostage situation? Did they know who they were holding? If Winner had to pay ransom, he probably had the resources to take them out before Quatre could get off the colony.

She looked up at what she recognized as the giant biodomes that housed most of the colony's food supply. They were a far cry from the pristine white domes of her own colony. Many of the panels were gone or falling apart. From a distance, it seemed that some of the panels had been replaced with random materials, probably scavenged. These people were on the brink of colony collapse. Now that Relena was here, she could see that this place was a thread's width from falling apart entirely. Winner's project was just barely keeping things stable. She set her jaw. with a little bit of work, they could make progress here. She would make it her focus, at least until L2 had a working colony with valid government representatives. However first thing was first.

Their car pulled up to the doors of the biodome. The steel door slid open shakily and two men stepped through. Relena recognized the boy Heero as one of them. They were boys really. They couldn't be much older than she was. The other was a handsome taller boy with light brown hair and green eyes. They were both well muscled, and visibly armed. Both boys were tense and closed off as they tried to see through the tinted windows. Relena could not see anyone in the dark inside. She craned her neck, but there was no sign of Quatre. Were they protecting him or holding him somewhere?

She waited for her guards to exit the other car. Both Heero and the other boy let their hands wander closer to their weapons as they saw the men exit. Relena opened the door next, once they were surrounding her door. Heero's eyes tracked to her, though he was still fully paying attention to the guards. She smiled at him and nodded her head. He didn't take his dark blue eyes off of her, even as Pargan approached them. She couldn't quite hear what was said, but Trowa exchanged a few words with Pargan and then both of them lowered their guard a bit. Pargan nodded a bit and came back.

"Miss Relena, they are willing to let one guard, myself and you into the dome. Shall I tell them this is unacceptable.

Relena's eyes were still locked with those of the Japanese boy.

"No." she said. "I trust them. She finally broke contact with the boy and turned to Pargan. "Have the guard who comes with us take some medical supplies and gifts. The others can stay and unload the foot we brought.

Once their party was together, they followed the two boys into the dark of the entrance. Trowa waited for them to enter and then closed the door. For a moment they were in darkness. Only the sliver of light leaking through the door made the shapes around distinguishable for a moment. A hand rested on the small of Relena's back and Heero's voice was close by her ear.

"The lights in here stopped working years ago. Don't move until we get the other door open."

She nodded, feeling electrified by the boy's presence. She could almost feel the power exuding of the taught muscles of this boy. She was thankful for the darkness as she was sure she was blushing at his touch.

The door at the other end of the threshold opened soon enough and they were hit with the scent of fresh earth and vegetation. Light streamed in from the huge lamps above the biodome. Inside, Relena could see other people working in the rows of plants. There people of all ages and colors inside. Most looked underfed, but healthy. An older woman with a hose was watering what looked like lettuce. The hose she held was ripped and patched in so many places, there was more patch than hose. Even then it leaked. Relena imagined it was almost impossible to get materials, let alone new supplies for the dome. Everything they could get new would come from SSIP. Of course that would mean that SSIP would have a great deal of leverage over the people.

"You run the food supply to this colony. People pay you for their food?"

"Pay?" Heero said, with a bit of confusion in his voice.

"We trade for materials and services." Trowa answered. "Anyone who helps to grow the food can take what they need. If they don't, they can bring us supplies. Once a week, we have a market for trade."

"What if they don't have anything?"

"If they don't have anything, they can go to the SSIP facility to sign up for the work for food program. Sometimes, they will bring that food to add to the trade. Other times, they can get supplies from SSIP."

"Does SSIP help you with this biodome at all?"

"No," Trowa answered as he led the three of them down the path under the grapevines "We've tried not to rely on SSIP. The other biodomes do get assistance in return for work. We take care of ourselves."

Relena was impressed that there was so much growing here. She could see vegetables and even some fruit trees. In the distance, she could see something that looked vaguely like a chicken coop. She tried not to think to hard about what they had in the way of meat on this colony.

"To be honest, I'm amazed that this is running so well when you haven't had fresh supplies from Earth in so long. How did you learn how to cultivate the seeds and work the soil?"

"The original prisoner population worked these biodomes," Trowa answered. "Even though they were abandoned, they continued to keep the gardens going since they knew they couldn't survive without them. They passed down the knowledge to their children, or anyone who was willing to learn."

Finally, they had reached the main gate. Unlike her clean, tourist friendly biodomes at home, these offices were obviously geared toward prisoners. She hadn't failed to see the barbed wire and fencing outside the biodome. These buildings were steel and chain, with heavy gates at the entrance, though the gate looked rusted open. Inside, she could see the blocks of cells where the farming inmates were most likely kept when the prison was still functioning. The gates were all open and the cells were being used for storage.

Relena swallowed in anticipation as they approached the last cell. As she rounded the last corner, she cried out joyfully.

"Quatre!" He was rising from the cot against the wall. She ran forward and embraced the boy, who looked a bit thin and worn, but otherwise in one piece. She kissed him on the cheeks and held him at arms length for a minute before embracing him again.

"Miss Relena..." Quatre smiled and returned the tight hold the girl had on him. She was like another sister to him and it was very nice to see someone familiar and friendly. As well as he had been treated here, he was a little homesick. "I'm so glad to see you."

"Quatre, you look terrible. But you're alive. I'm so glad." She looked around now. Trowa and Heero were behind her along with Pargan and the guard. Now she wanted to know who was responsible for rescuing her best friend. Now that she had expressed her joy at seeing her dear friend again, she stepped forward to meet his saviors. The two boys both sported long hair and looked far too serious for their age. One boy looked almost regal, with his chiseled Asian features and his smooth black hair tied back in a ponytail. The other boy had chocolate brown hair that hung in an impossibly long braid and unruly bangs that partly covered his dark violet eyes. He was close to Quatre and stood with ease in the boy's space, brushing against the blond as he stepped forward and held out his hand.

"I'm Duo Maxwell and this is Wufei," he said cordially. He seemed a little bit wary of her, and not too happy that she was here. She nodded at him and took the bag that Pargan had brought. Opening it, she felt more than saw the boys tense. This was not a trusting bunch, but they didn't feel dangerous, and the ease with which Quatre seemed to display made her feel less threatened. She had no doubt that any one of these boys could easily take the guard out without even breaking a sweat.

Pulling a box out, she handed it to Duo.

"I have brought medicine and food. They're unloading more from the car, though I doubt it's enough sadly. However, I will be able to get more, once I am able to take a request to ESUN. There is a lot to be done."

Duo took the box and handed it to Wufei.

"First, I have to thank you for saving Quatre. I am in your debt."

"They've treated me very well, Relena," Quatre said softly. "I was poisoned and left to die in an ally. If Duo hadn't found me..."

Relena's gaze hardened.

"I wish there was a way to prove that he did it. He'll deny everything of course, when he finds out that you're alive. However I will make sure he doesn't know until you're safely off the colony. Do you have any things you need to bring with you?"

Relena heard a low growl from Duo. His fists were clenched and he looked down at the floor. He obviously wasn't happy about Quatre leaving and Relena wondered what had occurred between the blond and this man.

"Duo," Quatre put a gentle hand on Duo's shoulder and Relena saw the boy immediately relax a bit at his touch. "I would like to talk with Relena alone for a minute. Please?"

Duo shrugged his hand off and the three boys left them. Relena told her guard to wait outside the door.

"Quatre," Trowa said. "We'll be right down the hall if you need anything."

Quatre nodded and smiled. When they left, he took Relena's arm and led her to the bench on the wall, sitting them both down.

"I'm sorry. I'm still a little weak since I was sick. Standing for long is tiring."

"Well when we get you out of here, we'll take you to one of your sisters to give you a proper examination."

Quatre shook his head. "I can't leave, Relena."

Relena was about to protest, but thought better of it. "I thought you might say that. But we can't leave it as it is. If your father finds out about you while you're here, I can't protect you. And the state that this colony is in... Quatre, it's falling apart."

"I knew you would think so," Quatre agreed. "What SSIP is doing now isn't enough. We need ESUN to get involved."

"I can do that easily enough. But what about your father? He won't let this rest. I could take you away for a while until we could find evidence against him."

"No, Relena. I think this is our best chance to catch him at his game. Right now he thinks I'm dead. That means a lot of my clearance is still active. They haven't changed the codes. I think if I can get into his offices here, I can find what we need."

"Quatre that is so dangerous. What if he catches you?"

"That's where you come in. We'll need a big distraction... and if we play this right, we can take care of two things at once."

Relena smiled. That was here Quatre. He always had a plan.

* * *

Duo looked moodily out the window at the gardens. Trowa had gone to check the perimeter and Heero was monitoring communication in the other building. Wufei was with him, looking at him.

"Say what you want to say, Wufei. Don't stare at me like that, it freaks me out."

Wufei sat back on the desk.

"You need to be open to this girl, Duo. I know you don't want to. She's come to take the blond away. Now that you've claimed him, you've made it even harder on yourself."

"What? How did you know about..."

"Duo, you don't smile that much unless you got some. It's not that hard to tell."

Duo tried to stifle a grin at the remembrance of last night. However there was a stab of pain as he realized that could end.

"He'd be stupid not to go back with her, Wufei. There's nothing I can offer him here."

"I think he would disagree with that, Duo. Rather I think there's a lot he could offer you by staying here. That girl is Relena Dorlian. She has a lot of power. She's a symbol of peace among the colonies. You mustn't alienate her because of your feelings for outsiders."

"Once she has him, she won't give this place a second thought... and once he's back home and out of this hell..."

"You seem so eager to let him go."

"That's not..." Duo sighed. "I don't want to. I'm just trying to be realistic."

"Funny, it sounded a lot to me like whining."

Duo glared at him before sighing in resignation.

"Maybe I am. But the fact is he'll be better off far away from this colony."

"No I won't." Wufei and Duo both turned sharply. Quatre and Relena were there. Quatre approached Duo carefully and put a hand on his shoulder. "As much as you keep protesting, Duo, I'm committed, to you and this colony. We need to get Trowa and Heero though. I have a plan, but I'll need your help."

* * *

Randolph Winner was extremely upset as he walked up to the hangar and the returning cars. He waited, straightening his suit jacket while he waited for Relena's group to exit the car. She was surrounded by guards, wearing her diplomatic uniform. He scoffed at how military in nature the uniform itself was, complete with gold cord and Epaulets on the shoulders. He hurried forward with a few of his own guards at ready.

"Miss Relena I must protest. You are under my protection here. My guards are uniquely prepared to deal with the dangers on this colony."

"I appreciate your concern, Mr. Winner but I was well protected. I was simply conducting a survey of the colony in order to report back to ESUN. Your efforts are commendable. The help and shelters you have provided seem to be quite adequate. My report will definitely be quite favorable." She smiled, taking his hand. He relaxed slightly.

"I thank you, Lady, however I still must insist that you take a contingent of my guards if you are going to leave the SSIP Zones, or travel between them. Just because the colonists don't have guns, doesn't mean they are safe. I take it you've heard of the Slicers?"

"I have," Relena said, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

"Then you are aware, that they don't care what harm comes to them and will attack at random. It's very possible that they are responsible for Quatre. I can not risk the same thing happening to you."

Relena narrowed her eyes, not sure whether to take that as a threat or not. She brushed it aside and delivered a piece of paper to the man who took it suspiciously.

"This is a list of people that are leaders on this colony according to my interviews. Would you agree?"

Winner glanced down the list and nodded. "Yes," he said, not liking the taste of where this was going.

"Excellent. I need you to contact as many of them as you can. I will host a lunch tomorrow and we will talk about how ESUN can get involved. I'm not going to argue this, Mr. Winner," she said as he was about to protest. "What you are providing is wonderful, but not enough. This colony is past ready to be re assimilated into ESUN. Given the amount of time it takes for these things to happen, it will take years anyway. We need to start now. That is why I must speak with the leaders."

"But Miss Relena, these people are not exactly..."

"I understand that they may be a bit more rough and less refined. But they're a people, and they're no longer criminals."

"That is arguable," Winner sniffed.

"Nevertheless, we must start working on reintegrating them. If nothing else, I want to talk to them and see if it is even a possibility. If we don't get their cooperation, we could lose this colony."

"I assure you that my organization has things in hand."

"I realize that, Mr. Winner but it's not enough."

Winner pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering how far he could argue. However the focused and stern look in this young whelp's eyes was not wavering.

"I am adamant, Mr. Winner."

He sighed. "Very well, Miss Relena. I shall try to contact them. However, I doubt you will get much of a response."

"Let's offer them something then. Free access to clean water. It's something we would need to provide eventually anyway and it's a valuable commodity. I can get emergency funds to get the water systems working again."

"However, it's also our leverage, Miss Relena. If we give it away free..."

"Not free. It's a peace offering. Besides, according to the ESUN principles, all colonies are required to provide clean water to the people. This colony is no different. But if we offer it now as a gift of faith, we can use it to bring the colonists together."

Winner capitulated. "As you wish then, Miss Relena. May I ask how the rest of your investigation coming along? Have you found anything that might tell us what happened to my only son?"

Relena tried very hard not to balk. He was so slick, it made her hands feel greasy. However she did not get to where she was without knowing how to play games. Of course it was a bit more difficult without Quatre's occasional help. However, he had taught her strategy. Like father like son, really. Quatre could talk his way out of anything. She had learned a few things herself. However it took all she had not to have the man cuffed and locked away right now.

"So far, it looks like what you said is what happened. Quatre took a car to repair the faulty mobile drones. The car was found abandoned. Unfortunately I haven't been able to talk the man who found it."

"Ah yes, Rashid. Unfortunately he quit. He was ashamed for letting Quatre go alone. At the time, I blamed him myself. But Quatre is stubborn. He didn't like being coddled." Winner stared off into space for a moment.

"I have some sources looking for him. In any case, I won't be able to talk to him for a while if at all. The Middle East is still just starting their peace talks, so we have little recourse there."

"Well I have contacts there. I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, it seems we have a lunch to prepare. I'll see if I can get the kitchen to..."

Winner hesitated as the Relena's cars drove by him. A face staring out the window caught his eye.

"Mr Winner?"

Relena watched in confusion as the man stared at her empty car. There was a look in his eyes that was very out of character for him. It was not in control. It was a mix of mostly disbelief and a little bit of rage. However there was something else Relena could see that she would never have expected from the unflappable Randolph Winner. There was fear.

* * *

"Watch your step. That one is broken."

Duo pushed the door open before leading Quatre through. Quatre paused against the wall for a moment, breathing heavily. Duo looked out the window before coming back.

"Hey, you okay?"

Quatre nodded, holding his chest. Duo felt a little guilty. He pulled Quatre to a place where he could sit down before locking the door.

"Thanks," Quatre used the opportunity to catch his breath. "Where are we?"

They were in a large hexagonal room with slanted windows on each side. They were at least 6 stories above the rest of the colony as far as Quatre could tell. They had gotten here, from below in the sewers and then up a series of nondescript stairways. Now, Quatre could see courtyards down below. From where he was sitting, he could look down through the window and see for miles. Of course few people graced the surface of the colony, so he didn't see much movement, though the occasional moving spec presented itself here and there.

"This is one of the guard towers. They're all over the colony. We're not far from home base anyway."

Looking around, Quatre could see that there were old monitors that had probably monitored the inside complexes at one point, though they probably hadn't functioned for years. In the middle of the room was a large conference table, with a few holes which Quatre assumed were for personal computer hookups. The data ports were so old, Quatre was sure that nothing now would actually work in a facility like this.

"Is it safe?"

"As safe as anyplace can get here really. Slicers are always an issue, but there's only one way in and one way out, and since the doors lock from inside, you can't really be ambushed. Besides, these places are considered neutral territory because people usually come here to uh..."

Quatre wrinkled his brows before his eyes widened at what Duo was saying. It was very very hard to find privacy on this colony... especially if you wanted safety at the same time. Still, people had needs.

"Oh," he said quietly, a soft grin gracing his lips as he looked at his pant leg. Duo also found himself at a loss for words for a moment.

"Quatre, I don't think you should..."

"Don't try to talk me out of this, Duo. I can't let my father get away with what he's doing."

Duo smiled. "I was going to say I don't think you should go alone. I'm going in with you."

"I don't think that's a good idea. If you get caught... what about the children?"

"And if you get caught, what about that? If anything happens, I can get you out of there, quick."

Quatre bit his lip. He hated involving Duo in his own problems, but the man had a point. Duo approached him. putting a hand on the blond's shoulders.

"Besides, I want to spend as much time as I can with you."

The rest was left unsaid, but Quatre could practically feel the despair in the boy. Duo still thought that he would leave.

* * *

Please visit my site for the lemon

* * *

"Give me a couple more minutes and I promise I'm gonna do that to you again." Duo said with a grin.

The two lay in post coital bliss for a few minutes in silence. Duo let a rough hand trail over the soft skin of Quatre's bare chest, trailing it town to his belly button and hips before letting it slide back up again. Quatre, worked at the band that held Duo's hair until it was off and then proceeded to unbraid Duo's hair. Helping him out, Duo sat up and pulled the rest apart, letting the amber cascade fall over his shoulders. It made him look younger, and a bit vulnerable. Quatre kissed him gently, trailing soft hand down his shoulder before he giggled softly. He had never done it in a guard tower before. The 360 degree view through the tilted windows of the large room was breathtaking. It made everything look small and a little less drab. For a moment, Quatre let himself take in the details of the world outside, now that his attention wasn't directed elsewhere.

At this height, Quatre could see the curve of the colony around them. Unlike his colony, which was sparse with green trees and parks and pristine buildings and houses, this colony was flatter inside. The buildings that stood were all uniform, since most of them held cells. Though there was some green, most of the outside was dusty and dry. He could make out Trowa and Wufei's biodome about a kilometer away, standing up against the rest of the brown buildings. Further away, he could make out the SSIP complex, which was close to the ship hangar.

Occasionally, the hot wind would rattle the windows a bit, but otherwise it was deathly silent.

"It's like we're the only two people in the world," He said in awe.

"If it were with you, that doesn't sound too bad." Duo said honestly. "But... I really think you should go."

Quatre sighed. "Duo."

"I want to, but I can't promise that I could keep you safe, Quatre."

"Stop it," Quatre ordered and Duo fell silent. "You have innocent children that you take care of."

"They belong here. They're used to the way we live. And I haven't been able to protect them all. A lot of them die, Quatre."

"So it's the fact that I'm an outsider? Or is it that you think I need to be treated any different? I'm not a shrinking violet, Duo. I can make my own decisions and I don't need your protection. I need you!"

Duo stared at Quatre, shocked and a little afraid.

"Quatre don't..." He shook his head and began to move away, but Quatre grabbed him roughly and pushed him down on the table, kissing him desperately, putting all his love and desperation and passion and insistence into the kiss, making Duo breathless and limp, as he bit at his lips before pushing his tongue in roughly and thoroughly exploring Duo's mouth with his tongue before pulling away.

"I don't care. I love you, Duo. I know it. I can't leave," he hissed quietly, desperately.

Duo swallowed at the confession, at the intensity of Quatre's emotions, but he knew it was useless to hide his own. The blond was an empath after all, and Duo was too exposed inside and out to even try to hide. He didn't want it. He didn't lie, after all, and there was no running and hiding from this.

"I feel the same," Duo finally admitted. "That's why I want you to be safe."

"Then let me in," Quatre pleaded. "Let me stay. Relena can bring in the people who will help make this whole colony safer. Even you should realize that it can't sustain itself much longer without outside help. If we can do this thing tomorrow, I will be able to take care of my father and Miss Relena will be able to start real reconstruction of this colony. If this plan works, I promise you, things will get better and you won't have to worry. Just let me do this. I won't leave you."

Duo looked into Quatre's clear blue eyes, and realized that he wasn't going to win this. Quatre wasn't a child and he was going to do what he thought was right, no matter what.

"All right. But I'm going with you. If anything goes wrong, we get the hell out. And if anything happens and we can't get what you need, you have to promise to get on the ship with that girl and get out of here, and to some place safe."

Quatre made to argue, but Duo pushed him hard against the table.

"No matter what, Quatre. Listen to me. He's got power. If you don't put him away, he could have you killed, here easier than anywhere else, because there are gangs that are in his pocket that would do it for the right price, and then you would be dangerous to all of us. You have to promise me, for both of our safety. If something goes wrong, I will make sure you get to her ship safely.. and you have to go."

Quatre reeled at Duo's intensity as well as the sense in what he was saying, even though Quatre didn't like the possibility. Still, Duo was right.

"All right."

Duo shook the blond again. "Promise me."

"I... I promise, Duo. If you promise to give me a chance to help you. I know what happened with the Maxwell Church, but he was an outsider trying to help. Relena is good too. Promise you'll be open to her help and mine, even though we're outsiders."

Duo nodded. "It's really hard you know."

"I know," Quatre put a hand over Duo's heart. "I know how hard it is for you to trust someone beside yourself. I promise I'll make it worth your while."

Duo nodded.

"Good," Quatre smiled. "Now that we've made our promises, I expect you to keep them." He slid a hand up Duo's thigh before moving his hand between Duo's legs. "All of them."

Fully recovered, Duo grinned and straddled his lover to comply.

* * *

Wow. Another chapter of another fic. I'm thinking this thing has two more chapters to go. Lot's of goings on in the next chapter, which I will try to have out faster than my usual turtle speed. If you're still with me, thank you so much for reading. As usual, you can read the lemon at my site.


	11. Chapter 11

Title: The Forgotten

Author: Caer

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Yaoi, violence, angst, language

Pairings: 2x4

Status: Work in progress (part 10)

Disclaimer: This is simply fanfiction. I don't own this anime and I'm not making any money. It's just for fun.

* * *

Slowly winding this story to the end. It's been a fun romp. I'm glad that so many of you stayed with me and kept reading. I apologize if you had to go back and re-read just to get caught up. I did too. ^_^ I do love this pairing. I'm wondering if it wouldn't be fun to either give this fic another chapter, or to just start a fresh 2x4. I don't think I'll ever stop writing Gundam Wing in some form or another, but neither am I an avid writer like some out there. Plus I have a Naruto fic and a PSOH fic that I'd like to explore soon. But I promised myself that I would finish up all but one of my loose ends before doing that. BTW, I was diagnosed with Cancer and I got married, so between planning and chemo I have just been to swamped/depressed/busy to write, so I apologize.

* * *

Forgotten 11

Relena Dorlian's contingent numbered about fifty people, including her aides and bodyguards. They were now all working on the event that she hoped would bring numbers of representatives from L2. The guards were seeing to security while her assistants were making sure the hall was organized and the food was being prepared. Pargan was working directly with Randolph Winner to his dismay. He had looked sour all morning and Relena took some comfort in that. She only hoped that they could expose this man for the monster he was.

"Miss Relena," one of her assistants yelled from across the hall. "Should we leave these Mobile units here in the hall? The people on L2 present little threat without projectile weapons, or beam technology. Is it too intimidating?"

Relena considered for a moment. She smiled.

"Leave them where they are, Grace. These people are street tough. MS Units might be complimentary enough to acknowledge that and yet still give them a sense of humility. However, leave them empty, as a sign of good faith."

The girl nodded and returned to business as usual.

"Miss Relena?" Randolph Winner approached. "It appears that some of your... guests have arrived early. Shall we search them?"

She looked toward the door to see a tall man with long black hair. He smiled at her, in what seemed almost a leer. However a slight bow of his head was enough to set her at some ease. She approached the man, her guards flanking her.

"My name is Relena Dorlian. I'm a representative of the Earth Sphere United Nations. I would like to welcome you to the SSIP hall. I hope that we can work together to find a way to bring L2 back as a legitimate member of ESUN."

She held her hand out and let him take it. The guards around her stiffened but remained still.

"I am Bossa. I have heard a little of you, but it does not do you justice, Freulein," he kissed her hand.

She smiled disarmingly and kept a hold of his hand. Boy would she love to have Quatre here. It would make it much easier to glean the intentions of these people. She switched to speaking German.

"_I apologize in advance. We would like to search you for weapons, but we will not make you remove them. Will that be all right_?"

Bossa's eyes widened in surprise. He rarely heard his own language except among his close friends and family.

"_That depends? Will you be conducting the search?_" He replied and grinned.

Relena blushed and looked up to see a somewhat perturbed Heero standing at the door behind the exuberant German. With him, were the two boys she had seen yesterday. Immediately, she was walking toward them excitedly, using his presence as an excuse to get out of the awkward but somewhat charming situation with Bossa.

"Heero! It's good to see you again." She turned to Winner while the boys warily let themselves be patted down.

"Mr. Winner, I met Trowa, Heero and Wufei yesterday when I was visiting the biodomes. They have done an incredible job of keeping up the gardens with such limited supplies."

Winner smiled and shook Trowa Barton's hand. "Truly, they are to be commended. I have been trying to get help to that biodome, but they have so far refused. Perhaps we can build a relationship of mutual support."

Trowa shook his hand. His face was devoid of expression. However Relena could almost feel the tension from where she was standing. She quickly stepped in.

"Well, we're almost done with preparations. You gentlemen are welcome to have a seat. I hope there are more than just you four."

"I have already heard that others are coming Freulein. Heero and Wufei spent some time convincing them to come. You will have your work cut out for you, convincing them of your help."

A shudder shook the ground and Relena looked around, alarmed. She noticed that though the other's stiffened, they simply rode out the shock waves with caution. Even Mr. Winner seemed unphased.

"What in the world was that?"

"Tremors." Heero replied blandly.

She looked to Winner for an explanation. As a gentle rumbling echo traveled along the walls and away toward other parts of the colony.

"The hydraulics of the colony are very old. They haven't been maintenance d for years. We have managed to update some of the parts, however a full replacement is beyond our budget at the moment."

"Is it dangerous?"

"It has always happened here on occasion. Every once in a while, a building gets knocked down because of it. I few tunnels have collapsed. But it's rare." Wufei said as the trembling faded.

"I had it inspected six months ago." Winner added. "The engineers concluded that as long as we replaced some of the hydraulics and lubricated the gears it should last another ten years before we have to upgrade the whole system."

"It usually doesn't last very long," Heero said quietly to her. "You shouldn't worry about it."

Relena felt herself leaning slightly toward the boy, entranced by his quiet sense of power and security. He just made things feel safer. To her unified joy and dismay, she could feel herself developing a crush on the boy. Not only was he easy on the eyes, but the quiet strength he possessed was impossible to resist. She smiled gratefully at him.

"Well then, if you gentlemen would like to be seated, we have drinks and appetizers. We can start discussing our plans while we wait for others to arrive."

Relena was subsequently pleased and shocked at the various characters who began to trickle in. Some seemed to be honest to goodness community while others seemed simply to be glorified gang leaders. Many of them arrived, with their "pets." There seemed to be a healthy sex slave trade on this colony. Relena realized a lot of work would need to be done here. Whatever treaty they forged would need to start very loose. The restrictions other nations and colonies had would have to be overlooked for a time. This colony had been on it's own for so long that an entire counter culture had been created. An entire nation had sprung from crooks and thieves and murderers and who knows what else. Sixty years ago, this colony was a prison and nothing else. When the wars had started, the guards who worked there had simply opened up the gates and left.

The most prominent leaders seemed to be the first man who had come in with Heero. Bossa Dues berg seemed to run about an 8th of the colony whether it was his own community or whether it was by protecting other smaller groups.

There was a group of five who seemed to run another portion of the colony. Two of them had "pets" along with them, very pretty and complete with collars and everything. This group seemed to be more mafia-like in their setup. Bossa seemed to have little admiration for them, but he knew how to talk with them. He would be a valuable diplomat, as many colonies would look down at their practices. He could work with them, even if he found it distasteful. He respected them and they respected him because of that. The hardest part would be convincing the other colony representatives that the people here had value and that they weren't nothing but criminals and rapists. Between Bossa's suaveness and Duo's charm, they might pull it off as representatives of their colony. The more she thought about this, it could work. The "pet" situation could be dealt with later.

Most everyone was at least tolerating each other. In fact the only one who looked like a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs was Winner. He was checking his watch and tapping his foot. Did he know something was up? Or was he just feeling the guilt of what he had done and was now nervous about getting caught. After all, there were a lot of leaders here. If any of them had seen or found Quatre, that would definitely be a red flag in Relena's "investigation" of Quatre's death.

She only hoped that Duo and Quatre were doing okay.

Not far from the conference, Duo and Quatre had used Quatre's card to infiltrate the main ship and were now headed down the hall for Winner's office. A few people passed them on the way, but they were dressed in uniforms that Relena had gotten them, so they merely looked like her subordinates Quatre kept his hat low so that the people he had worked with wouldn't recognize him. So far, they had done alright, though they would have to be careful as they got toward Winner's office since it would be far more suspicious to be accessing his private offices than random halls in the ship.

When they arrived, they waited for a few people to pass before going to the keypad. Quatre punched in his number and was denied. He cursed.

Duo was looking out. "What is it?"

"He must have changed the code."

"Well crap man. I brought some explosives, but here?"

"No," Quatre shook his head. He uses a few. I know most. Give me a second. Then we'll go to plan B.

Duo "psst" at Quatre and they stood up, and pretended to be ringing for Winner. A few people passed and smiled and then Quatre went back to typing in codes.

After the fourth code and a lot of pretending not to be breaking in, the door clicked. Quatre stared at the console.

"What's wrong?"

Quatre shook his head and smiled nervously. "The delay seemed long." He seemed to dismiss it. "One way or another, we've breached the passage. Come on."

Duo watched him walk in in front of him. He found his eyes wondering down to the tight red uniform pants.

"I'd like to breach your passage." He breathed.

"OW! Fuck me!" He said a minute later. "What'd you hit me for?"

"Shhhh."

And the door slid shut behind them.

* * *

At the conference, Relena was having a hard time keeping the peace between the different factions. Even with Bossa and Wufei's help, it was hard to convince these people that it was in their best interest to except help.

"We've done okay on our own!" Said one of the leaders. "Why should we except a bunch of crap rules when we can make our own food already.

"That is barely!" Bossa said with passion. "Do you recall that seventy of your people died last year after one of the buildings collapsed? We are barely able to feed the people, and many of them don't get enough, even our own. Without the supply from SSIP, we would not have not been able to upgrade the lights for our biodomes. Our colony is dying."

As if to prove his point, the whole colony rumbled again. Everyone seemed a little cowed. Bossa drove it home to Relena's delight.

"You hear that? That is from parts that haven't been replaced in over seventy-five years. Do you know how to fix it? Do you? We need this help. We need to make our people people again. We can't do that unless we become a formal colony again."

Everyone was silent. Relena was waiting for the right time to speak, when a beep interrupted the conference. Winner stirred and pulled out a phone. Talking quietly on it, he nodded. Relena and Bossa exchanged glances. He rose.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm afraid I must excuse myself. I have a situation I must attend to. I will leave you in the capable hands of Miss Relena."

"Excuse me, Mr. Winner, perhaps you can explain the water situation on this colony?" Bossa tried. Relena found no viable reason to keep him there.

"I'm afraid this is an emergency that must be attended to. I'm sure Miss Relena can apprise you of the situation, which is a dire one. Excuse me."

He left the conference hall, still on his phone. Relena and Bossa were left standing, staring at each other. Relena made a decision to go on without him. There was nothing either of them could do for now. She just hoped Quatre and Duo had gotten what they need.

* * *

In Winner's office, Quatre was not having luck.

"This is stupid. Why can't I remember the name of the man?"

"Um, gee, Quatre, maybe it's because you were DYING." Duo said, while he played with some kind of magnetic toy.

"I'm searching his email and I just can't remember. It was a Russian name I know."

"Well if ya ask me..."

"Found it! It was Tsuberov. I'm loading his email now. Now for a drive."

Quatre sifted through the drawers and found a key drive. He began to download the information as he scanned it.

"I don't know if this is enough, but it should be enough to indict him. I hope." Quatre sighed.

"What you mean murdering his own son isn't enough?"

The door slid open and Quatre and Duo spun toward it. Winner stood there, with a gun.

"I suppose it depends on if anyone finds out, Mr. Shinigami. Yes I know you. You've stolen enough of our wares. We do have cameras you know. But I suppose you don't. I know who you are."

"Father please," Quatre moved protectively in front of the braided youth. "Please leave him out of this. I'll do anything you want, but let him go."

"Quatre, no. I can handle it."

"No!" Quatre turned and took his hand. "I would never forgive myself if something happened to you. Please, just go."

"Typical of my son," Winner snorted. "I can always get at you later, boy. Quatre, come with me, we need to have a talk. I'm sure you can guess what will happen if you try to run."

Quatre swallowed and nodded. He turned. "Duo, don't try to follow me. Just run."

Quatre turned and followed his father out the door.

Duo sighed shakily. He had seen guns before, but had never been this close to one... especially the wrong end of one. They did horrible damage. He looked down in his hands, where Quatre had left the key drive. His choice was clear. He could follow Quatre or he could go find that Relena girl and give her the information.

"Tough choice," he whispered. He pocketed the key drive and started after his lover.

Quatre had gone to the right so he started there. He knew Winner would probably head for the incinerator. After all, even Duo knew that you could trace a bullet with the right technology. If Winner was going to kill Quatre, he would want no body.

However, it seemed Winner had thought of Duo's following as well. In the next corridor, Duo stopped cold. Alex and Mueller were there. One with a club and the other with brass knuckles.

Duo crouched and got ready to fight.

* * *

H'okay, so we're getting close to the end now. Let me know what you think!


End file.
